I was reminded of the story about a lady that lived in London, England who wore a little gold locket in the shape of a heart around her neck.  And there were people that would ask her - Hey let me look inside of it -  let me see what’s inside your heart,  but she wouldn’t let anyone look in it.  So when she died and family members were going through her things they ran across this locket that she had been wearing for years.  Everyone wondered what was inside of her heart shaped locket. Some thought it might have been a picture of an old boyfriend. But when they opened it up there was ......

You can take one grain of corn and plant it, water it and fertilize it and when that blade comes up most times it puts out two ears.  Just think of how many kernels are on that one or two ears.   Then you take those same two and you take them and seed all those kernels and next year when you plant them you’ve planted a whole field. 

​That’s what happened when Christ died on the cross; He was resurrected on that third day and inspired those disciples to write the gospels.  Even as we share today, people are steadily coming to Christ - it’s multiplying.

A few months from now we will celebrate love.  Valentine’s Day is a day where people all over this country will be telling their wives, girlfriends, or husbands “Honey I love you”.  They’ll be buying candy and flowers, going out to eat, and all these kinds of things.  Telling their loved ones “I love you”.

When you think of love, do you think of Jesus?
Jesus wants to know:
​Do you love me?

When you think about the word “treasure” one of the first things that comes to mind a lot of times is a treasure chest.  You know like you see on television – pirates go out and find the treasure chest that has gold in it, silver, jewelry – all types of expensive things.  I think about the movie that Nicholas Cage was in called National Treasure – they found this huge basement with nothing but gold and all kinds of things.

Where do you keep your treasure?

Many people want to meet a king or queen, they desire to be in the presence of a king or queen.  Once there, they are expected to behave a certain way - there are certain rules if you are face to face with the king or queen.
​
When you go into the presence of a queen most times you bow, and a lot of times you are expected to kiss her hand.  The same thing is true of the king – you may be expected to kiss his hand or kiss him on the side of his cheek and these types of things.

Now, you can’t just walk into the palace of a king or queen and think you will be taken in to see them.  You won’t see them without going through some sort of process or procedure.  You will have to have permission or approval to see the king or queen. 

Just what does it take to be in His presence?

I can remember as a little boy there was this thing called a salt box.  They would kill hogs and after they had butchered it they would put it in the salt box, putting salt on the meat to preserve it.  Even now, we can go in the store, pick up a package of ham and see from the label that sodium or salt is used as a preservative.  Without a preservative, the surroundings or the environment – bacteria, heat, humidity, etc. – would cause the meat to spoil.    

​We too, are in danger if we don't have protection from the "elements". What or Who is keeping you from the destructive forces of this world?

'I was sharing this morning how in big cities you can live next door to people and not know them, especially in places like Chicago.  I lived up there way back in the 70's in a little studio apartment up there.  In this apartment building there were people on the same hall that I was staying on and I didn’t even know them.  I’m talking about people that are living a door or two down from you yet walk by you like you don’t even exist.
 
Here in Alabama we wave at people and we speak to people but in those kinds of cities and places people don’t even speak.  They can live in the same building where you live and walk by you without even opening their mouth.  Thank God that we’re not that way here in Alabama. We're very neighborly here, so it can be confusing.  Who is my neighbor?