The Pearl of Great Price

Brethren, if you were absolutely certain, that is 100% with no shadow of a doubt, if you had an absolute ironclad guarantee that whatever money you could scrape together in the next, let's say, six months, would be multiplied one thousandfold instantly upon you turning that money over, wouldn't you really try hard to scrape together as much money as you possibly could? A hundred percent ironclad guarantee, no doubt about it. Think about that for a moment. If you could get one thousand dollars together, just a thousand dollars, you would then receive one million dollars for that thousand dollars. If you could scrape ten thousand together, then you would receive a thousand times that, or ten million dollars. And if you could scrape a hundred thousand dollars together, sell your house, you would receive one hundred million dollars.

Now, you still wouldn't have anywhere near what Bill Gates has, or the Walton family, but it would still be a lot of money. Now, if that were the case, wouldn't you try really hard to sell everything that you had? Wouldn't you turn it all into cash and give that cash up for a thousand times that amount? That would really make good sense, wouldn't it? Now, personally, I would sell my cars. I've got a couple of old cars and a truck, even. I'd sell them all. I'd sell my house. I would sell anything of any value at all. If I could get five dollars for my old ball glove, I'd sell that because I'd get five thousand dollars back for that old ball glove. I'd sell all my clothes. I figure if I could get fifty dollars for all my clothes, that would be worth fifty thousand dollars to me. Now, I would have to try to save at least one outfit back, or maybe a towel. But, you know, if I could sell that towel for a dime, for one dime, it'd be worth a hundred bucks. You see, I could buy a very nice towel and some pretty cool new clothes with fifty thousand dollars. Well, I would sell absolutely everything I had, knowing for sure that I would receive so much more in the future.

Well, you might be asking, what does all that have to do with the Bible and with the Feast of Tabernacles? Why waste my time with such foolishness? We all know that's not going to happen.

Well, actually, there is a parable of our Savior, Jesus Christ, which led me to think of these introductory comments about all that money and selling all that I have. And you may, you're probably ahead of me, you know what that parable is. It's found over in Matthew chapter 13, so let's go there. Matthew chapter 13, and Christ put a lot of parables in Matthew chapter 13.

Matthew chapter 13 verse 45.

Again, the kingdom of heaven, or the kingdom of God, is like a merchant seeking beautiful pearls, who when he had found one pearl of great price, went and sold all that he had, and he bought it. He bought that pearl of great price. He sold everything that he had, and he bought that pearl of great price. Salvation and eternity in God's glorious kingdom is surely that pearl of great price. God is the shopkeeper. He's the one who has the wonderful pearl. You and I are the pearl seekers. We're seeking that pearl of great price. What does it mean to sell all that you have to buy that awesome pearl? At this time, with the Feast of Tabernacles, just how well do we understand the meaning of this parable, the pearl of great price?

Now, generally, when we talk about this pearl, we focus on how awesome the pearl of great price truly is, the kingdom of God and eternity in God's kingdom. And that's rightly so, because God's kingdom truly is awesome. It is priceless. But perhaps another scenario will give you a little inkling of what it would mean to sell everything that you have to buy this one pearl of great price. So I'd like to share this scenario with you. It's a bit lengthy, but I'm hoping it will have the desired effect. So listen carefully. There will be just two people in this little scenario. There will be the shopkeeper, of course, symbolic of God and Christ, and then also the pearl seeker. Again, you and me. So listen carefully and consider what this means to you personally. So the shopkeeper begins. You walk into his shop. How may I help you? This pearl, this pearl I'm looking at, I've seen pearls the world over, and this one is one of a kind. Would you ever really consider selling it? Oh, certainly. It's for sale, says the shopkeeper. Well, how can that be? I mean, it's one of a kind. How could you possibly part with it? How could you sell it? Well, you're right. It is one of a kind. It is priceless, in fact. Nevertheless, it is for sale.

Well, how much is it? Well, it costs everything that you have. Everything you have, that's the price. Well, everything, I don't understand what you mean. Well, whatever you have, that's what the pearl costs. If you have 10 million dollars, or if you have just two cents, that's what it costs. It costs everything that you have. Well, that sounds like a terrific deal for me. I'm not wealthy. I don't have that much anyway. Let me see if I heard you correctly. If I give you everything that I have, then I can have the pearl. That's right. You can have the pearl. Well, then we have a deal. I'll buy the pearl.

Shopkeeper says, you made an excellent decision. Now, give me all that you have. Give me everything.

Well, let's see. I have 2,500 dollars in a checking account, and I'll be glad to write the check right now. I have 4,000 dollars in my savings account, so I have to go grab that and get right back to you. Good! The shopkeeper says, I'll take it. But what else do you have?

Well, that's all I have. Well, do you have any money in your pocket right now?

Well, sure, I have some change. In fact, I even have a couple of dollars folded up in my pocket. Well, don't count it. Just hand it over. And what else do you have? Well, I don't have anything else. Well, where do you live? Well, I do have a house. But it's not all paid for. That's okay. I'll take the deed to the house.

All of it? Yes, bring the deed.

Okay, I guess I'll have nowhere to sleep except in my car. Oh, you have a car. Ah, yeah, I do have a car. In fact, I also have a truck. All right, well, I'll take the car and the truck. Now I don't have anything. I've given you everything. Well, are you married? Yes. All right, well, I want your spouse.

I'll take your spouse. And do you have children? Well, I have three lovely children. Well, I'll take them as well.

Wow! Well, nothing. I have nothing left at all now. Except myself. Well, I'll take that too.

I want you too. Now the pearl is yours.

So the pearl seeker looks at the pearl, holds it in his hands and says, Wow! Now that I own it, it's even more beautiful than anything I've ever seen. And I've been looking at pearls all my life. But what a price to pay for this pearl.

So this shopkeeper pauses for a moment and he says, I'll tell you what I'm going to do.

You remember your spouse? Well, sure, of course I remember my spouse. Well, I'm going to let you keep your spouse. She can continue to be your spouse, but this time with a difference. You must accept your spouse as a gift from me. And you will live according to what I say and not according to what the world says. And of course, hopefully she'll follow you and do as well. You will live according to what I say, not according to what the world says.

Not according to what you think. In fact, I'll give you an instruction manual that I want you to live by.

Well, okay. And the children. Well, yes, I remember the children. Well, they're not my they're not your children. Remember, they're my children. Yes. Well, I'll let you keep them, but you must treat them as a gift from me and you must raise them my way.

I'm not really sure I understand the difference between before I came to your store and now when I've given you everything.

Again, the difference is to do what I say, not what the world says, to follow my instruction manual. Do you understand? Well, I think I do. Now then, you remember the car. Sure. Well, I'm going to let you have the car, but remember it is my car. Yes, I'll remember that and I shopkeeper says, well, I may need the car occasionally. I may need you to take someone to the hospital or take someone somewhere who's in need and can't afford transportation. So, do you understand? Are you willing to do that? Sure, I understand. I'll do that. Now, your house. Well, I'm going to let you live in that house, but I want you to remember that it's my house and from time to time, I may need a bedroom for a person or even a whole family. Do you understand what I'm trying to tell you? You're going to have to share that house.

Well, it's your house.

Now, let's talk about the money. Oh, yes, the money. Oh, I'm going to even let you keep the money.

Thank you very much. However, you have to remember it's not your money, but it's mine and I want you to regularly give me 10% of whatever you profit because you do need to work. Get out and work. There will be times when I come to you and I say I need a special offering and you're going to need to give it to me like at these annual holy days we're keeping.

Yes, I understand. Well, do you really understand?

Do we all, do we really understand what God is requiring of us as we seek His kingdom, as we seek the pearl of great price? Let's go to Mark chapter 12 for a moment and let's consider what Christ says about the widow that has only two mites. Remember her? The widow with just two mites? Mark chapter 12 verse 41. Now Jesus sat opposite the treasury and saw how the people put money into the treasury and many who were rich put in much. They put in a lot. Now, I remember when I was a kid, I you went to the Methodist Church and I shouldn't have done this, but they passed the hat or they passed the collection whatever it was, a bowl and I would kind of look over and see if how stingy people were if they'd put a $20 bill in or maybe just a $5 bill.

Well, Christ was, I guess, in a way doing something similar here.

He was watching what was going on and many who were many who were rich put in much. But then one poor widow came along and she threw in two mites.

Now two mites isn't much. It's a very small amount of money, which makes a quadrant. That's also a very small amount of money. He doesn't mount too much. She didn't have much.

So he called his disciples to himself and he said to them, this is a teaching moment for Christ. He brings the disciples in. Assuredly, I say to you that this poor widow has put in more than all those who have been all those who have given to the Treasury. She's given a lot more than the rich people have, for they all put in out of their abundance.

But she, out of her poverty, she put in all that she had, her whole livelihood.

She was willing to give it all and she had faith that God would provide.

So Christ was certainly impressed with that.

And he taught his disciples to also learn to give and to give in faith.

Now you've been bought with a price. You've been bought with a pearl of great price. You've been bought by the shed blood of the Creator of all things. The Savior of the world you've been bought and paid for by Jesus Christ.

He bought and paid for you with all that he had to give his very life.

So he certainly can give you the kingdom of God.

Let's go to 1 Corinthians 6.

1 Corinthians 6.

God the Father and Jesus Christ are one. They have the same goals, the same purposes. They're totally unified and united.

In 1 Corinthians 6, verse 19, Paul asks the question, Or do you not know, do you not know that your body, this physical body, is the temple of the Holy Spirit that is in you, whom you have from God and you are not your own, for you are bought at a price. Therefore, the conclusion is, since you are bought with this great price, glorify God in your body and in your spirit, which are God's. You know, God owns it all, doesn't he? Owns everything. He is that shopkeeper who has it all. So, he wants us to conduct ourselves in a manner worthy of our calling. We read that a couple days ago when I gave a sermon. We're to walk worthy of our calling, this high and this wonderful, mighty calling that God gives us.

We're to glorify God in our bodies. Whatever God gives us, we should learn to glorify him by giving back and by sharing and by helping others.

So, we are talking about a complete surrender, a complete surrender of oneself. In 1 Peter chapter 1, Peter talks about this complete surrender that we should all come to. We should all strive to do that. I know it's not easy. In fact, it's extremely difficult. I've been trying to do this for over 40 years. I'm not quite there yet.

Still trying to completely surrender the self. In 1 Peter chapter 1, verse 13, Peter writes, Therefore, gird up the loins of your mind.

Be sober.

Remember, our minds are to become like Christ, aren't they? We are to put on the mind of Christ. That's what Philippians 2 verse 5 says. So we are to gird up the loins of our mind. And be sober and rest your hope fully. Remember what we talked about, that hope, that anticipation, having faith, knowing about God's promises that are indeed our promises, that God has promised these things to us. Be sober and rest your hope fully upon the grace. Again, we are saved by grace.

We don't deserve it, but we are saved by grace. That is, to be brought to you at the revealing or the revelation of Jesus Christ. When Christ returns, He's bringing salvation with Him.

He's bringing it for the first fruits, and then later He'll bring salvation to all mankind.

Verse 14, As obedient children, not conforming yourselves to the former lusts, as in your ignorance, remember, we were to come out of that old way and become a new creation, a new creature, walking in righteousness. Verse 15, But as He who called you is holy, you also be holy in all of your conduct. It doesn't say some of it. It doesn't say a little bit of it. It doesn't say most of it. It says in all of your conduct.

Because it is written, Be holy for I am holy. That is our goal, isn't it? Become you, therefore, perfect, spiritually mature, even as our Father in heaven is perfect. It is a goal. It's a goal that we can have for the rest of our lives, and we must have for the rest of our lives.

Verse 17, And if you call on the Father, who without partiality judges according to each one's work, remember, judgment has begun at the house of God. It starts here, and God is aware of who you are. He knows you intimately. He knows you very well. He knows your weaknesses. He knows your strengths. He knows you very well.

And if you call on the Father, who without partiality judges according to each one's work, again, we don't save ourselves by our works, but we are known by our works, and we're to walk worthy of our calling, and we will be rewarded according to our works.

So conduct yourselves throughout the time of your stay. Okay, this is the time of our stay. Right now is the time of our stay. And conduct yourself here in fear, knowing that you were not redeemed with corruptible things, like silver or gold, from your aimless conduct received by tradition from your fathers, as you followed along, followed Adam in his sin, you followed even his sin, but instead, with the precious blood of Christ, the precious blood of Jesus Christ bought and paid for you, as of a Lamb without blemish and without spot. He was perfect without sin. He was the perfect sacrifice for us. He indeed was foreordained before the very foundation of the world, before the earth was created, before Mars was created, but was manifest in these last times for you, who through him believed in God, who raised him from the dead. The Father raised Christ from the dead, gave him glory so that your faith and hope are in God.

Since you have purified your souls and obeying the truth, because the truth is also wrapped up in this pearl of great price, without the truth, you're never going to have the kingdom. You've got to have the truth, and you have to embrace the truth, and you also have to love the truth.

Love the truth with all of your heart, soul, and might, with all of your strength. And having been born again, or actually begotten at this time, not of corruptible seed, but incorruptible. In other words, God has given you that guarantee of His Spirit. Upon repentance, upon baptism, the laying on of hands, you receive the gift of the Spirit of God. It's incorruptible, and through the Word of God, which lives and abides forever. So we have to live by the instruction manual that God gives us, because all flesh is as grass, and all the glory of man, as the flower of the grass. The grass withers. It dies. In Texas, the Bermuda grass is going to be dying pretty soon.

It's not going to be long. It's going to go dormant for the whole winter. The grass withers. The flowers fall away. But the Word of the Eternal endures forever. Now this is the Word which by the Gospel was preached to you. So Peter says these things were preached to you, and these things are preached to all of us. And we have the instruction manual, and we're to live by it. So we are to be holy in all of our conduct. That's what the Scripture says. That's our goal. That's what we strive for. I know we're not going to make it in this life. We're flesh. We're weak. We're puny.

But with God, we can be made strong. And we should have that vision of becoming strong in Christ and in the Father. And let's not make excuses for our weakness and our sin. Let's just admit it for what it is, and then go on and do better. That's what God wants. That's all He wants.

So just how precious is eternal life to you? How thankful are you to Christ for giving His life for you?

Why did Christ give up His life so He could turn around and give you the pearl of great price? That's what this is all about. This pearl of great price. Forgiveness and eternal life in His kingdom.

So how precious is being allowed to live in a veritable paradise for eternity? I mean, it's much better than anything you can think of.

Much, much better.

It is indeed priceless.

Now, frankly, people are very clueless, and even we are clueless, to a large degree, about what it means to live forever. Now, we still have a lot to learn, don't we?

God's thoughts are high above ours. They're far above our thoughts. This is wonderful. It's a vision of something so wonderful and beautiful. We really can't grasp it right now, but we're here trying, and that's a good thing.

Just to underscore how clueless people can be, I'd like to just quote from Ms. Alabama in the 1994 Miss USA contest.

She was asked the question, If you could live forever, would you and why?

This was her answer. If you could live forever, would you and why? And I'm not really picking on Ms. Alabama here. It could have been anyone. She says, well, I would not live forever, because we should not live forever. Because if we were supposed to live forever, then we would live forever. But we cannot live forever, which is why I would not live forever.

It sounds a little clueless to me.

We are not so clueless, though. God has revealed a great deal to us, even though we still have much more to learn.

So just how precious is God's truth to you in living forever? What is it worth? Is it worth giving up your home? Is it worth giving up your car, your family, even your own life?

You know, God allows us many blessings. We're all very, very blessed. I mean, this is a wonderful country with so many rich blessings. My wife and I have been enjoying the spectacular view of Lake Delton. We're right on the lake. It really is pretty. It's very uplifting. It's very positive. It's a very nice condominium that we're staying in. God's blessed us greatly, and that's been my whole life.

I grew up blessed. I've been blessed. We've all been blessed here in so many ways. God allows us many blessings, but we should use those blessings for His glory.

That's one of the main lessons that we all need to learn. We should use those blessings that were given for His glory. And each and every day, we should be so very grateful and thankful for what God gives us and thank Him for it and be very appreciative for it. It's part of that pearl of great price. It's a wonderful package. God wants us to use what He's given us. He's blessed us. This is a wonderful world in many respects. I mean, God is gracious. He's good. He's wonderful. Yes, there's a much better world to come, but let's not be so negative about the one that He gives us right now.

This is where we live. Let's be grateful for it. Let's be thankful for it.

I'd like to share with you three things that we can do to attain and to hold on to the pearl of great price. Just three things. The first one is, let's all become expert jewelers. Let's become experts knowing and appreciating the value of pearls. Now, obviously, I'm not talking about pearls in an oyster. I'm talking about this pearl of great price and what goes along with it. Remember, the kingdom of heaven is like a merchant man seeking goodly pearls, who when he had found one pearl of great price, he sold all that he had and he bought that pearl. So the merchant was seeking. When he saw the pearl, he knew enough about them to recognize it.

He knew enough about it to recognize a real find when he saw it. There is no hesitation in this parable. No pondering about its worth. It was a pearl of great price!

He was an expert and he realized just how great that pearl was.

Do you value that wonderful pearl each and every day of your life? Have you truly caught the vision of God's kingdom? How does it motivate you every single day of your life?

Now, there are three kinds of pearls. There are natural pearls, there are cultured pearls, and there are imitation pearls.

Now, natural pearls are the most rare and, of course, the most valuable.

And much of this I took from Wikipedia and a few other internet sites. So if you want to look up pearls, all you have to do is search for pearls and it will give you lots to read about. Now, not all natural pearls produce... I'm sorry, not all natural oysters produce pearls.

In fact, a haul of about three tons of pearls will only bear fruit of three or four oysters that are what would be considered perfect pearls. Perfect natural pearls. Three or four oysters out of three tons of oysters. Now, pearls are judged by their color. They can be pink, they can be white, they can be orange, they can be gold, they can be cream colored, and the rarest being the black pearls. I guess that's why there's a movie about black pearls.

But pearls can be a beautiful color and not be valuable. Tiny mineral crystals give valuable iridescence to the pearls by breaking the light that hits them into tiny rainbows. So color is important. Weight is also important. The heavier the pearl, the more valuable it is. The heavier, the larger, more valuable it is, basically. Also, the shape is important. If it's a perfectly round pearl, then it's worth much more than a nod-shaped pearl.

So perfectly round pearls are the most valuable, and the bigger they are, the better. Pearls can also have tiny blemishes. One blemish can be acceptable as it can be worked out when making the pearl into jewelry, but perfect pearls are the most valuable. Among a pearl's attribute, luster is the most important differentiator. This iridescence, this luster that a pearl has, it's the most important thing that differentiates a pearl of quality and one of not so much quality. So all factors being equal, however, the larger the pearl, the more valuable it is. So perfectly round pearls are rare and highly valued. Those that are natural are very rare and very highly valued.

In fact, I was reading about Cartier. I guess he bought, he had one, it was a set of pearls, a necklace of pearls, I think it was a double necklace. It was worth, it was valued over a million dollars, and that's what he used to buy the store that became Cartier's store in New York City.

So these natural pearls are the most valuable, but there's also cultured pearls, and they look very much like the natural ones. In fact, you couldn't tell them with your naked eye, you couldn't tell the difference. Even if you were an expert, you couldn't tell the difference with a naked eye.

You have to actually x-ray those pearls to determine whether or not they're truly natural or whether they're cultured. Some of them, anyway, the ones that are really the most perfect. So what they do is they plant a core or nucleus into pearl oysters, and the pearls are usually harvested three to six years after they're planted. In general, cultivated pearls are much less valuable than the natural ones, and one way that jewelers can determine whether a pearl is cultivated or natural is, as I said, they x-ray the pearl.

So they can only tell by doing lab tests, and it's very, very difficult to tell. About one in 20 oysters opened has a valuable cultured pearl. So one in 20 of a cultured pearl, about one is of much value. The others really aren't worth much at all. So you see, they are far less rare than natural pearls, though. One in 20, that's a lot less than three or four out of three tons.

Imitation pearls are much easier to identify by jewelers, and of course, the least expensive. Some imitation pearls are simply made of mother of pearl, of quarrel or conch, while others are made from glass, and they're coated with a solution that contains fish scales called essence deorient. And although imitation pearls look the part, they do not have the same weight or smoothness as real pearls, and their luster is much dimmer. So they're not near as impressive, the imitation ones, and that's the ones that most people buy. The cheap ones, they're imitation pearls.

Now, Satan has many counterfeit pearls out there, and he deceives a lot of people. Young and old doesn't really matter what age you are, because he can deceive young or old with these counterfeit pearls. So we need to be experts on God's Word, and certainly we need to be experts on the Kingdom of God and what that is and why we want to attain God's Kingdom. First of all, we have to make a decision that that's what we really want.

But you know, Satan, what he does is he keeps people in a flux of not being able to decide. And that's what happens to a lot of our young people. They don't focus, so they never decide, or they just take a long time in making a decision that really is a no-brainer in many ways. But Satan is a great counterfeiter, and a lot of our younger children, a lot of our teenagers and young adults in their early 20s, for some reason they think they have to wait until they're 30 or 40 before they figure this thing out.

But it's really not that complicated. I'm not saying you should rush into this, because certainly you shouldn't. And you should be counseled before you're baptized. But on the other hand, why not start living? Because this is the real life, doing it God's way, not going the way of the world. That's the counterfeit way. Those are the imitation pearls. Don't you want the real pearl? The pearl of great price. So Satan is the father of lies, and there's lots of lies out there. Of course, God cannot lie, so this book is full of truth. It's something that we should study and read. So in Matthew 7, verse 6, Christ says, Give not that which is holy unto the dogs, neither cast you your pearls before swine, before pigs, lest they trample them under their feet, and they turn again and rend you.

Now, we usually apply this scripture to others, but we need to make sure that we are expert juliers and we're not like the pigs, like the swine. This is valuable stuff. This is very, very important, these words of truth. The pigs trampled the pearls because in their ignorance they didn't realize the value of them. We need to know and appreciate the value of God's truth. But we're going to be deceived and we're going to be willing to sell out or trade for an imitation that is worth nothing but heartache.

In Romans chapter 8, let's go there for a moment, it talks to us as children. We're all children of God. Romans chapter 8 verse 17, he says, and if children then heirs, we are heirs of God. We are those who will inherit what God has for us. We are joint heirs with Christ. Christ is the firstborn among many brethren. If so be that we suffer with him, that we may also be glorified together.

For I reckon that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us. There is a glory that shall be revealed in us in the future. For the earnest expectation of the creation waits for the manifesting of the sons of God. That's what this is all about. It's not about going to Mars. You know, that was an interesting sermon at night. I appreciated the sermon at, by the way, but I was thinking all the way through it. It's not inhabited for human beings. I mean, that's not an inhabitable planet. God made this planet for us. You know, why would you want to go up there and not have a hard time breathing? I like to breathe. I don't like to struggle for my breath. That's so stupid. It's crazy. And to pay money to go up and die? Come on! I mean, that's how stupid people can be and how ignorant this world is. I mean, no offense to anyone out there. If you plan on going to Mars, that's your business. All right, let's go on to the second point before I get myself into further trouble here. Okay, the first point again, you need to be an expert julier, which means you need to study the Bible and know what it says and believe in it. Simple. Secondly, have faith in your investment. I mean, you've invested in this. Some of you have been around for 50 years. You've invested in this. I've invested in this. My wife's invested in this. This is a very, very, this is a good investment. It's the best possible investment. So don't doubt your investment.

Now, I'm not much of a market player. I don't play the stock market. It's pretty scary. I mean, I wish I could do it and make money and not worry about it, but I don't have as much confidence in that as I do the Pearl of Great Price. I mean, I'm not saying it's wrong. It's probably smart to get into certain parts of the market, you know, that you can get a decent return on.

But let's have faith in our investment as children of God.

And if we have faith in this investment, then we will be willing to invest everything because that's what it takes. You have to be willing to invest it all. Now, the merchant in Christ's parable didn't hesitate because he knew his investment would be returned to him multiplied many times over. That's why he gave the introduction the way he did. This merchant knew for sure that Pearl of Great Price was worth a whole lot more than anything he could scrape up and give for it. So he sold everything for it. He didn't look at it as a sacrifice at all. He knew that he was getting a bargain, a real bargain. So do you recognize the bargain that God has given you? This is a real bargain. Do we view our calling as a sacrifice or as a blessing? Is this a blessing that God has given us? Do we have faith in God's kingdom that we're going to be there? Or do we allow Satan to deceive us and to bring discouragement into our lives so that we doubt the very plan of God? Satan is very sneaky about getting to begotten children of God. And he uses discouragement to a large degree. And he wants to convince us that his thoughts are God's thoughts. His thoughts are not God's thoughts. God is very pleased to give you his kingdom. He is not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance. That's God's desire for you. God wants good things for you. God wants wonderful things for you. And I'm not Joel Osteen, either. But it's true. I mean, there's a right balance here. There's a right balance in God's truth. So we should have faith and believe. One of Satan's most deceptive tools, again, is to discourage us. The pearl seeker knew what the final results would be. Wealth beyond anything that he had ever had to buy that pearl, he was going to get more back than anything he could ever possibly have otherwise. So we should be excited about what we found. We should be very excited about what we found. And we should have faith in our investment.

In Luke 12, it says, rather seek ye the kingdom of God, and all these things are going to be added unto you. Believe that. Seek first the kingdom of God. And all these things, that means everything right and good. That doesn't mean you're going to have everything without any trials. That's not what it means. But it does mean that everything does work for good to those who love God and are called according to His purpose. Sometimes He teaches us things by the things that we suffer. But they're good for us. They work for good. So rather, seek the kingdom of God, and all these things will be added unto you. All the things that you truly need is what He's saying. He says in Luke 12, verse 32, fear not, little flock, for it is your Father's good pleasure to give you the kingdom. This is what pleases God to give you His kingdom. So sell that you have and give alms, and provide yourselves bags which wax not old, a treasure in the heavens that fails not. For where no thief approaches, neither does moth or moth does not corrupt. For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also. So we need to lay up treasure in heaven. That's where our focus needs to be, not on fast cars and things like that here on the earth. Again, it's okay if God blesses you with a fast car, drive it slowly and be careful because your body is worth a lot more than crashing yourself up in a fast car. But you know if He blesses you, I talked to someone here that's renting a Hemi engine, what is it, a Challenger or Dodge Charger. Yeah, and I said, well that's awesome, but you know be careful. I said, if you've driven it 120 miles yet or 120 miles an hour yet, he said no. I said, well good. You probably don't want to do that, something like that. So anyway, if God blesses you with these things, enjoy them, but keep them in the right perspective. So the second point, the second point again, was have faith in your investment and be willing to invest everything in it. You can't lose. This is the perfect investment in the Kingdom of God. Thirdly, invest the pearl by sharing it with others. That's another part of all this. You have to be willing to share it with others. Learn to live a life of giving right now. God wants you to learn to give. Mr. Armstrong talked a lot about that. The way of giving. You know, God's way is a way of giving. That is our future for all eternity, is to learn to give and share, to be selfless. God is that way. So use your possessions right now to glorify God and be willing to invest not only in your future, but also in the future of others. Now, today is Youth Day, and it was great to hear the kids sing. And there's tremendous value in our children. Our children are the future of God's Church, of course. They're going to carry on our legacy. It's important that we focus on our children and that we as parents set the very best possible example that we can for our children. That we love them, undeniably and unquestionably, unconditionally, and that we take care of them. And we value them as God values us.

They're on loan to us. They're God's children, and He's given them to us. So we're responsible to Him for them. So we should do our best. And that's all anyone can do, is do your best.

And again, God doesn't want you to carry guilt around forever. You know, if you blew it to some degree, then thank... just ask God to forgive you, because we've all blown it to some degree, haven't we? We've all made mistakes in child rearing. We've all done things that we wish we had done differently. But again, let's not make excuses for ourselves, but let's just do better in the future. So we're going to be sharing that pearl with others, and we need to teach our children God's way. And they should know that this way is very important to us. This is the way that we live. And that it's a good way. It's a positive way. It's a wonderful way. This is a promised land that God's given us by calling us right now.

And we can take that wonderful promise that God gives us as His children and share that with our children. So we should plant seeds for God's kingdom now through our love and through our example, through our support of God's church, through our prayers. These are all important parts and aspects of what God is doing in our lives.

So let's share this with anyone who has an open mind. God may be calling them. If God isn't calling them, then obviously you don't need to go there. But if God is calling someone and God is working with them, then certainly be willing to share the truth that God has given you, this wonderful pearl of great price. Let's go to Revelation 21 for a moment. Well, by the way, I'd like to ask you to pray for some personal appearance campaigns that are going to be taking place in Texas. Right after the feast in Dallas-Fort Worth, in San Antonio, and Houston, all three of the Beyond Today presenters will be coming to those three cities and will be giving presentations about the time is now. Now is our time. This is the life that we're living. We're living right now. Whether we're in the church or not in the church, the time is now. And perhaps God will bring some of those people that he's calling right now to this presentation and they will be strengthened by it and may come to embrace this pearl of great price. So we're doing as much as we can, which may be a little bit, but we're trying to preach the gospel, to fulfill the commission that God has given us. Now in Revelation chapter 21, this is a very interesting scripture here in light of the sermon today. Revelation chapter 21 verse 21, the 12 gates, talking about the New Jerusalem, it has 12 gates and there were 12 pearls. Can you imagine this? 12 gates and 12 pearls, and each individual gate was of one pearl.

I'm looking forward to seeing the size of those oysters. But God has spiritual oysters. I don't know. Figurative oysters. I'm not sure, but it says there are 12 gates and they have 12 pearls and each individual gate was of one pearl. That's a huge pearl. And the street of the city was pure gold. It was like transparent glass.

It talks about the glory of the New Jerusalem that God is going to share with all of us. He has a book of life that he's writing our names in. That's pretty awesome to consider.

So again, it's interesting. I guess that's where the pearly gates came from. You know, you've heard that expression. It's not used properly in most cases. Usually jokes about the pearly gates. Pearl. These were individual gates. One pearl for each gate.

I'm not sure how that ties into my sermon, but I thought it was quite interesting.

Well, brethren, in conclusion, and the third point again, so that you don't miss the third point, the third point was invest the pearl. Share it with others. This is a good thing that God's given us. We should share it with others. Don't force it on people, but be willing to share it. Brethren, it is believed that all of the apostles, except the apostle John, were martyred and gave the ultimate sacrifice for the pearl of great price. God called them. God opened their minds to His truth. He showed them His way of life. He granted them His Holy Spirit.

They were His disciples. Now, we are God's disciples now. We are Christ's disciples. We're the Father's disciples. In the beginning of this sermon, I spoke of a scenario that would return to us a thousandfold any monies that we could possibly scrape together in the next six months. We would sell everything that we had to get in on that marvelous opportunity.

Just $10,000 would return to us a million dollars, and $100,000 would return a hundred million. And a lot of us could scrape up $100,000.

I mean, we have homes. How hard would you work to scrape up just as much as you possibly could? Wouldn't you sell everything that you had? If I could offer you that, I'll bet you couldn't wait to leave here to start scraping things up and amassing that money so that you could get a thousand times much that much. Now, that's really insignificant in comparison to the pearl of great price. It's priceless. It's worth a lot more than a thousand times.

What about this pearl parable? Have you given up your life? Have you given up everything for the pearl of great price? How thankful are you for this pearl? Will you continue to hold on to that pearl? You know, it's unfortunate, but a lot of people who have been in God's church are no longer in the church. They're no longer sitting and listening to sermons like this one. They've gone a different direction. Hopefully we will all stay faithful to our calling, and we will not become weary in well-doing. Will you remain faithful? Will you continue to seek first the kingdom of God? Will you continue to faithfully pay the price to attain that pearl of great price? It does take a commitment. It does take a surrender. But for one who's given that up for the last 40-plus years, it's been well worth it. This is what turns me on. This is what makes me most excited, is the truth of God, the ways of God. My whole life has revolved around this. I was only 18 when God opened my mind and showed me a better way. This really is the best way. So will you continue to faithfully pay the price to attain that pearl for yourselves? And also, will you be prepared to give it to others? Remember, God so loved the world that He gave His Son for all of us. So it really is a wonderful calling that we have. It's a privilege to be here with all of you at this feast. My wife and I are really enjoying the feast here in the Dells. It's gorgeous. We love the cooler weather. We get to go back to Dallas, where it's going to be about 90 degrees. I like the 50s and 60s. But it's going to get colder in Dallas, too. So I'm looking forward to that this winter. But anyway, it's really wonderful to be here with all of you, and I look forward to spending the rest of the feast with you.