The Kingdom – Week 3: Treasure & Pearls

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August 16, 2026 • Sermon Summary

Matthew 13:44-46 — Week 3

Pastor Mel closed The Kingdom with the two shortest parables in Matthew 13, the treasure hidden in a field and the merchant’s pearl, and made two claims: the Kingdom is often discovered by accident, and its worth is hidden. Most of us were not hunting for God, we were looking for relief or meaning, and ran into Him instead. But the accident was only ever on our end. Opening the Hebrew of Psalm 23, Mel showed that goodness and mercy do not follow us, they pursue us. Then he turned to what we do with what we hold: a woman kept candy in a three dollar bowl that later sold for millions, and we can treat the Kingdom exactly that way. The call is to develop an eye for worth, in the Kingdom and in the people everyone else overlooks.

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Discussion Questions

  1. Mel says both parables run on one thing: “When we recognize the infinite value of the kingdom, no sacrifice is too great.” Notice neither buyer hesitates and neither is described as sacrificing. Where are you measuring your obedience by what it costs rather than by what it is worth?
  2. “Most of us aren’t looking for the kingdom, but please know, the kingdom is looking for you.” Looking back, where can you now see God pursuing you before you had any interest in being found? What would change this week if you believed He is still chasing rather than waiting?
  3. A woman kept candy in a bowl she bought for three dollars; it sold at auction for $2.2 million. Mel’s point was not ignorance but proximity: she handled it constantly, and familiarity is what hid it from her. What have you been around so long that you have stopped seeing its worth?
  4. The appraiser explained why professionals walked past a broken statue that later sold for $2.1 million: “It was easy to overlook.” Mel applies that to people. Who in your life is easy to overlook, and what would it cost you to tell them out loud the kingdom potential you see in them?
  5. Mel borrowed two questions from Arthur Brooks, why am I alive and for what would I give my life, then reversed the grammar: “It’s not that I have the things that I would die for. I don’t have those things. But rather, those things have me.” Name what actually has you. Then name one specific thing this week that would only make sense if the kingdom did.