Ken Holladay was happy with his life as a farmer when God called him to minister to the down and out in downtown Los Angeles three years ago. Now, each week, Holladay travels an hour and a half each way from his home in an agricultural community north of L.A. to pass out New Testaments and get acquainted with the people on the streets.

Holladay says, "At first I thought I was going to win every drug addict and homeless person on those streets to Christ instantly. It didn't work that way." When he first ventured in the new outreach, Holladay targeted a hotel that is home to more than 500 people who share common bathrooms, and are not allowed to have cooking appliances.

At first, the management would only let Holladay in for five minutes every Friday. After a few months of constantly showing up, the manager agreed to let the 59 year-old father of eight stay longer. Today, Holladay holds church services in the hotel lobby every week.

Holladay says he does not exactly know how many lives have been changed since he answered God's call. He says, "One day I told God that I would tag along with him and that's when he led me to people who were open to the Gospel. I call it a tag-along ministry." Holladay adds, "My goal is to open a church in one hotel lobby a month in this area. My reward is seeing people come to know Christ."

—www.bpnews.net, Farmer carries God's love to the down and out in central L.A., January 16, 2004. Illustration by Jim L. Wilson and Jim Sandell

Mark 4:26-29 NASB “And He was saying, ‘The kingdom of God is like a man who casts seed upon the soil; [27] and goes to bed at night and gets up by day, and the seed sprouts up and grows— how, he himself does not know. [28] The soil produces crops by itself; first the blade, then the head, then the mature grain in the head. [29] But when the crop permits, he immediately puts in the sickle, because the harvest has come.’”

When Laurence Egerton’s metal detector turned up something of extraordinary value, he went to great lengths to protect it. Egerton routinely founds old shotgun cartridges and metal junk, but when his detector went off as he was surveying near the site of ancient Roman villa, he knew he had a unique find. He started digging and began bringing up shovels full of ancient gold and copper coins. The coins dated to the third and fourth century, and archeologists immediately wanted to dig to make sure they found everything that might be buried there. Every night when the archeologists left, Egerton stayed at the site, sleeping in his car to make sure no one disturbed the rare find. Authorities declared the coins to be official treasure and a nearby museum is working to raise the money to buy them. Egerton has a license to operate on the land where the coins were found, so he and the landowner will split the proceeds, which is expected to be in the tens of thousands of dollars. Egerton said, “I have found lots of interesting items, but never anything of this magnitude.” He added, “It really doesn’t get any better than this.”—Jim L. Wilson and Jim Sandell

Guy discovers treasure, guards it by sleeping in car for 3 days, By Evann Gastaldo,

http://www.foxnews.com/science/2014/10/01/guy-discovers-treasure-guards-it-by-sleeping-in-car-for-3-days/?intcmp=obnetwork, Accessed October 1, 2014.

Matthew 13:44 (HCSB) “The kingdom of heaven is like treasure, buried in a field, that a man found and reburied. Then in his joy he goes and sells everything he has and buys that field.

Some people claim an old Atari video game may be the worst one the company ever made, but it still sold for over $1,500 during an eBay auction. The “E.T. The Extraterrestrial” game cartridge was buried in the city landfill at Alamogordo, New Mexico in the 1980s after the company declared the game a flop and trashed it. The game, along with 800 other old Atari games, was recently unearthed after spending 30 years in the ground. To raise money, the city of Alamogordo put some of the games they dug up in an online auction which raised $37,000. The city says since it came from the landfill, they owned it and had the right to sell it. The “E.T” game was still in the original box, and fetched a bid of $1,537.—Jim L. Wilson and Jim Sandell.
Atari Games Buried in Landfill Net $37,000 on eBay,

http://www.boston.com/news/nation/2014/11/16/atari-games-buried-landfill-net-ebay/WIV25myvy0Ud63cf2sG7pL/story.html, Accessed November 16, 2014.

Matthew 13:44 (NASB77) (44) " The kingdom of heaven is like a treasure hidden in the field, which a man found and hid; and from joy over it he goes and sells all that he has, and buys that field.

You never know where you may find a hidden treasure. A West Point sweater purchased at a Goodwill store last June turned out to be an incredible bargain. A couple purchased the sweater for 58 cents and didn’t think much about it until they saw a documentary on legendary Green Bay Packers coach Vince Lombardi. When they saw a photo of Lombardi wearing a sweater like the one they had bought at the Goodwill store, they also remembered seeing a name tag inside that said “Lombardi. 46.” The family contacted the Pro Football Hall of Fame to donate the sweater, but then decided to auction it instead. The auction house estimates the sweater is worth more than $20,000, and the couple says that is not a bad return on a 58-cent purchase.—Jim L. Wilson & Jim Sandell

Couple Buys Sweater for $0.58, Belonged to Vince Lombardi, Worth $20K, By Kyle Newport,http://bleacherreport.com/articles/2360048-couple-buys-sweater-for-058-belonged-to-vince-lombardi-worth-20k?utm_source=cnn.com&utm_medium=referral&utm_campaign=editorial, Accessed February 10, 2015.

Matthew 13:44 (TLB) "The Kingdom of Heaven is like a treasure a man discovered in a field. In his excitement, he sold everything he owned to get enough money to buy the field—and get the treasure, too!

A visit to Arkansas’ Crater of Diamonds State Park turned out to profitable for Susie Clark when she found a diamond the size of pinto bean. She says she plans to keep the diamond and since she found it after saying a prayer, she calls it “Hallelujah Diamond.”
Clark says she first visited the park with her mother and grandmother 33 years ago. She found the 3.96 carat diamond near a pavilion of the park’s search field. Park officials say the day Clark found the diamond was perfect for diamond hunting because it had recently rained heavily, which washed away some of the soil.—Jim L. Wilson and Jim Sandell

Lucky Woman Finds 3.96-Carat ‘Hallelujah Diamond’ in State Park, By Sam Frizell,
http://www.msn.com/en-us/news/offbeat/lucky-woman-finds-396-carat-%E2%80%98hallelujah-diamond%E2%80%99-in-state-park/ar-BBiFoYe, Accessed April 26, 2015.

Matthew 13:45-46 (HCSB) “Again, the kingdom of heaven is like a merchant in search of fine pearls. (46) When he found one priceless pearl, he went and sold everything he had, and bought it.

Kingdom of God

Carla Squitieri was washing dishes. As was her practice, she removed her 12.5-Carat diamond while she washed. Her husband, Bernie accidentally swept it into the garbage. The next day when Carla realized what had happened it was too late. The garbage truck had already collected their trash. Carla thought it was gone forever.

Catching the truck before it reached the landfill, the Squitieris convinced the collectors to empty the trash truck in a place where they could search through it. Refuse manager Joe Evans rummaged through the 8-ton, 20-foot-tall garbage pile for the ring. In just 22 minutes, he found the ring. Carla was so relieved she just slid it on her finger, dirty as it was.--Jim L. Wilson and Rodger Russell.

Matthew 13:45–46 (HCSB)“Again, the kingdom of heaven is like a merchant in search of fine pearls. ⁴⁶ When he found one priceless pearl, he went and sold everything he had, and bought it.”

KINGDOM OF GOD

A tropical bird found in England may have logged the most air miles in the history of aviation. Wildlife officials say the red-footed booby, a native to the Caribbean, was found on a beach in southern England. The bird was 5,000 miles from its native habitat and was the first reported sighting in Britain. Rescuers say the bird was starving and dehydrated and spent months under heat lamps. They named the bird Norman while nursing it back to health. Finally, Norman was returned to his home on a British Airways flight to the Cayman Islands. The pilot, Captain Shaun Griffiths said Norman was “by far the most unusual” passenger he had ever had.—Jim L. Wilson & Jim Sandell

Matthew 18:12 (HCSB)“What do you think? If a man has 100 sheep, and one of them goes astray, won’t he leave the 99 on the hillside and go and search for the stray?”

Sarah Cummings and her fiancé decided to cancel their wedding about a week before it was scheduled, but she could not break the contract with the local Ritz Carlton, so she threw a party for the local homeless instead. Several business donated clothing for attendees, and Cummings notified shelters and invited residents. Cummings acted as a host as her guests dined on glazed meatballs, roasted garlic bruschetta, and wedding cake. She declined to comment on why the wedding was cancelled, but Cummings said, “For me, it was an opportunity to let these people know they deserved to be at a place like this just as much as everyone else does. “—Jim L. Wilson & Jim Sandell

Luke 14:23 (CSB) “Then the master told the servant, ‘Go out into the highways and hedges and make them come in, so that my house may be filled.”

When we think about precious stones or minerals, diamonds or gold come to mind, not pearls. Most people are unaware of the high value that a rare or valuable pearl can reach. In 2006, a Filipino angler made an amazing discovery in the sea off the coast of the Palawan Island, in the Philippines. He discovered a huge pearl inside a giant clam. He took it home and hid it under his bed, keeping it as a good luck charm for many years. The pearl was 26 inches long by 12 inches in width, weighing nearly 75 pounds! Recently, his tiny home burned down, but the 75-pound pearl under his bed survived. The pearl now has been valued at 100 Million dollars! It beats the former “world’s largest” pearl known to exist: weighing less than 15 pounds and valued at $35 million.

The Kingdom of God is the greatest of treasures. Those who receive the message know that the kingdom is a reality that is worth everything. And thus, they joyfully make it their one priority in life. Be willing to sacrifice everything to follow Jesus as Lord. Whatever you give up does not compare to the unsurpassed value of what you will gain. —Jim L. Wilson and Carlos Andres Rodriguez

Matthew 13:45–46 (CSB)“Again, the kingdom of heaven is like a merchant in search of fine pearls. ⁴⁶ When he found one priceless pearl, he went and sold everything he had and bought it.”