The Chase

Lesson Transcript

Well, good morning. I'll Christ in His body welcome you to this gathering and appreciate the prayer for His truth to be here, our hearts to be open. And the word Brother John used to sit out to me, "Defenseless to truth." That's often where our battle lies: to take down our defenses to our preconceived notions and ideas. I find I struggle with that almost every day. How many of you have heard of the name Forrest Fenn? Okay. Just wanted to make sure that I wasn't gonna hash a bunch of things people already knew.

I'm gonna put a few things on the board here to kind of frame our thoughts and then continue from there. The two numbered points up there come from Matthew 6:33. Purposefully left the blank open there. I'm sure you know what King James and most Bibles fill that in with, the word "seek." I would like you to let your mind wander a little bit to synonyms of that word. And hopefully by the end of this morning you have a word that fits a picture in your mind of what that means.

I'll just give you a few now to start your brain going a little bit. The one is up there, the "chase." Okay. "Chase," God's kingdom and His verdict of right. "Pursue," "hunt," "dig it out." And I'll let your brain come up with some more. The name Forrest Fenn, I don't know how long ago, it wasn't all that long ago, I just somewhere, I don't know if it was in a little news something, I saw a little blip of something about a treasure being found.

And so when I started thinking about this whole thing of seeking God's kingdom, I said, "Well, I'm gonna see if I can find anything about that." And I did. I found quite a bit of stuff. And I would like to read you some of what I found just to set a framework for this whole thing of hunting, seeking for a treasure. Because the Bible tells us, and we'll look at this a little later, that the kingdom of God is like a treasure that is hid in a field.

And it tells us a lot of other things that I would like to sort of go over this morning. But this account, interesting to me, the framework that it set up. Who is Forrest Glen? And this is by a blogger, Dale Knightcell, that kind of followed this whole treasure thing. Who is Forrest Glen? In a nutshell, Forrest Glen lives, Forrest Fenn, sorry, lives in Santa Fe, New Mexico, where he started an art gallery, raised a family, collects artifacts, writes books, and made a fortune.

He has hidden approximately a million, this is in 2010, dollars of his fortune in gold and gems in an old-world bronze chest pictured to the left. And I don't have the picture with me. He paid $25,000 for the chest alone. The whole shebang is said to weigh about 42 pounds. And much of the gold is collector's gold, meaning that it's worth much more than the face value of gold alone because of its historical importance.

For instance, an ancient Aztec golden amulet is worth much more than the current value of its weight in gold because it is unique, unusual, sought after, special, etc. Well, that's crazy. Maybe. Forrest is not a traditional thinker tied to conventional ways of getting things done. If he were, his life would be dull, commonplace, mundane, boring. Instead, his life has been anything but humdrum. He has made his fortune and his reputation by thinking, creating, and trading well beyond the bell curve.

The hidden treasure is another way for Forrest to enjoy life. In my humble opinion, he looks forward to capable individuals out there trying to outthink him and locate his treasure. It's a contest for him. Forrest versus the rest of the world. And the winner gets to keep a million dollars. To meet Forrest is to stand in the presence of a very smart, competent, and competitive fellow. Someone will most certainly find his treasure chest. Why not you? Or preferably me. Who can go after his treasure?

Anyone and everyone is invited to go out and look for Forrest's treasure chest, even his family, because no one knows where it's hidden except Forrest. When you find it, Forrest says that it's yours to keep. How's that for a shovel-ready program that will put folks back to work? Well, where do I start looking? There are three or possibly four essential items that will help you find where the treasure chest is hidden. Forrest wrote a poem which contains nine clues and is supposed to lead us directly to the treasure.

He has published the poem on his website and it has appeared in a number of news stories about the hidden treasure. You can find his poem at the bottom of this page. Forrest also wrote a memoir, "The Thrill of the Chase," which is a beautiful hardcover book with plenty of pictures and lots of possible additional hints to where the treasure chest is hidden. It's available for $35 through Collected Works Bookstore in Santa Fe, New Mexico.

There are also additional hints and clues Forrest has handed out since the hunt began back in 2010. I hope this blog will become a source of information about the treasure and where you can begin your search. A caution. There are plenty of speculators, naysayers, and misinformed individuals out there, including reporters and journalists, who have added inaccuracy and conjecture to the trove of hints and clues floating about in the ether. This is inevitable.

As a story is passed from person to person, it begins to grow and be embellished. And before you know it, the facts are hard to find. In truth, what Forrest has said over and over is that only the poem and what he has written in the book contain honest hints and clues that will lead to the treasure. Ignore the words that others have put in his mouth. I learned this the hard way. Look for the real quotes. Listen to the interviews on this blog and from the media, not so much the written quotes.

Those quotes can be inaccurate. But the interviews with Forrest speaking on camera where you can see his mouth move and his words come out, those interviews are the best source of factual information. It is easy to believe that Forrest actually said something when that idea matches your solution. But he may never have said what others claim he said. Sometimes people lie just to laugh at the folks who believe them. Trolls, jokers, and the socially defective are everywhere.

We try to keep folks from spreading rumors and truths on this blog, but in the end, it is an impossible task. So be cautious and be informed. Check the quotes. And there's more caution. Based on my experience with Forrest, I believe he is a master of the double and tendry. He chooses his words very deliberately. More than once, I have run off suffering from the belief that I had brilliant new information about where the gold is hidden. In fact, I did not pay close enough attention to the precision of his words.

He specializes in letting you believe something he never said. I told you he is clever. There is another place to look for clues. One other source of reliable information is Forrest's blog, which is on his old Santa Fe Trading Company website. He occasionally writes about the hidden treasure. And in his writings, you might just find the puzzle piece you were looking for that will lead you to the treasure. Anyone interested in the treasure should read his website from front to back.

Not only will it give you a pretty good picture of just who Forrest is and why he is a legend, but his real-life stories are interesting and witty. Well, if you know so much, Mr. Smarty Pants, Dal, and that's the writer of this blog, why don't you go out and find that treasure chest yourself? Believe me, I've tried. I've made over 70 trips as of January 2019 from my home in Washington State to the Rocky Mountains to look for Forrest's hidden treasure. I am planning more until I find it or until you find it.

Sometimes I start out confident that I know exactly where it is hidden, excited that I will soon be nervously opening a bronze chest chock-full of gold coins, gold nuggets, gold figurines, gold bracelets, and jewels, so spectacularly heavy that I can barely carry it back to my truck. Other times, I feel less confident but excited because I'm going somewhere new, surrounded by mountains, with the possibility that I might be right.

On the other hand, every time I have come back empty-handed, but not empty-spirited, I have absolutely wonderful treks that are crammed with little adventures. I have walked marvelous American landscapes. I have slept on the high desert mesa and in river canyons under juniper and pinion. I have hiked incredible stretches of crystal-clear trout streams guarded by tall pine and spruce. I have ambled across alpine parks, delicious with spring wildflowers, and soaked in natural hot springs to soothe my tired feet.

I have been within a dozen yards of antelope, bighorn sheep, elk, mule deer, and bear. I have visited pueblos, plazas, canyons, hilltops, and forests. I have driven thousands of dusty miles through ocher-stained, hauntingly beautiful volcanic topography. I have smelled the desert sage and tasted fritto pie. I have been in some of the loveliest country a person can picture. It's been a wonderful experience. And I am grateful that Forrest tempted me, dared me to go out and find his treasure, the thrill of the chase.

Here's the poem that he wrote. Six stands is of four lines that give nine clues to this million-dollar treasure titled "Where the Treasure Lies." As I have gone alone in there and with my treasures bold, I can keep my secret where and hint of riches new and old. Begin at where warm waters halt and take it in the canyon down, not far but too far to walk. Put in below the home of Brown. From there, it's no place for the meek. The end is ever-drawing nigh.

There'll be no paddle up your creek, just heavy loads and water high. If you've been wise and found the blaze, look quickly down, your quest to cease. But tarry scant with marvel gaze, just take the chest and go in peace. So why is it that I must go and leave my trove for all to seek? The answer is I already know. I've done it tired and now I'm weak. So hear me, all, and listen good. Your effort will be worth the cold. If you've been brave and in the wood, I give you title to the gold.

I didn't tell you that the man was about 80 years old when he hid this treasure. And I found one short interview that I'd like to read that an interviewer had with him. Her name is Holly. And he said he would answer five questions for her. Holly, I've read that one of the reasons you hid the treasure was to encourage people, especially kids, to get outside and look for treasure. Is that true? If so, can you elaborate on that? Neat way to get two questions in one.

Forrest, we have a problem in this country with our youth: obesity, drive-by shootings, disrespect, and much more. I would like to get those kids out of the game room, off the couch, and out where they can smell the sunshine. The teens today will be our leaders in 15 years. And we, as a country, are not preparing them adequately for that day. Holly, some people have been skeptical about whether you actually hid a treasure in Santa Fe. What would you say to those people?

Forrest, whatever I say to those people will not satisfy them. It's in their genes. I did hide the treasure in a place that is dear to me. I have received more than 18,000 emails, and only three doubt that my treasure story is real. And each of them went to a place where they knew the treasure was, and it wasn't. They blame me for it not being there for them. It is not easy to find, but it certainly is not impossible. Early on, a reporter asked me who my audience was for my book.

I told her, "My audience was every redneck in Texas who has lost his job, has a wife and 12 kids, a pickup truck, and a sense for adventure. That's who." Holly, what do you hope for the person who finds this treasure? Are you hoping that a particular type of person finds it? Do you hope it's ever found? That's three questions in one. Forrest, the person who finds the treasure will be the one who solved the clues in my poem and walked to it. No one will happen onto it.

My hope is that whoever deserves it through his efforts will be the finder. Holly, you've been releasing clues. Do you plan on releasing any more in the coming months? Forrest, the Today Show wants me to give another clue each month for a few more. I don't know when that'll end. Holly, what tips do you have for those wanting to find the treasure? Some most important questions she could have asked. Forrest, here's what I would do. Read my book in a normal manner.

Then read the poem over and over and over, slowly, thinking. Then read my book again, this time looking for subtle hints that will help solve the clues. That interview was 2013, three years after he wrote his book. He claims to have buried the treasure before 2010. I don't know how much more before that. That treasure was found this year in June, early June 2020, by an undisclosed treasure hunter from Back East. And that's all he would say about it because the fellow wanted to remain anonymous.

And if we have a time at the end, I would like to read several pages of what he wrote about this whole thing. I find it very fascinating. Over the 10 years that this treasure was hidden in the mountain, an estimated 350,000 people went hunting for it. Wikipedia says that the gold rush of 1849 had 300,000 participants. I thought that was interesting. I don't know how true all those facts are. But 350,000 people searched for this treasure. Some quit their jobs. Five died.

The New Mexico State Police begged Forrest Fenn to stop the search because they claim people were out there risking and endangering their lives for this. And they were the ones that had to go rescue them. Forrest did not stop the hunt. His logic was, "Well, if someone drowns in a swimming pool, we don't drain the pool. We teach them to swim." There's some logic to that. Forrest also died this year, this month, at the age of 90.

And by the way, just in case you're curious, there are supposedly 14 more treasures in the United States for people still to find. Treasure hunt, the chase. As I said, and you can turn to Matthew 13:44-46, I'll read to start. Jesus likened the kingdom of God to many things. In verse 44, he says, "Again, the kingdom of heaven is like a treasure hid in a field.

Which a man found and hid, and for joy over it, he goes and sells all that he has and buys the field." You might notice just one little difference about this account. There are some people that sold all they had or quit their job and went looking for the treasure. Here it says, "After the man found it, he did that." I think that's an interesting observation.

It also says, in verse 45, "Again, the kingdom of heaven 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 bought it." It's interesting to me that Jesus not only likened the kingdom of God to the treasure, he likened it to the man that was looking for one. And I really think that's another interesting observation. Matthew 6 says, "Seek first God's kingdom and His righteousness." That's the first thing we should do.

The second point, I'm just going to leave up there. I don't really plan to talk about that today. But in fact, I'm not sure it is necessarily a bad thing to sell everything we have, even to seek it. Because what's the promise that goes with that? We will have all our basic needs met. So I don't think it's a fool to get rid of everything you have and chase, pursue, hunt, and dig for the kingdom of God and His verdict of right.

Two important questions I think that go with this thing is, do I know what I am looking for? And the second one, how do I go about looking for it? Forrest Fenn treasure, he said it was a 20-pound bronze box. And the blogger says it was worth, or he paid, $25,000 for it. Dimensions were 10 by 10 by 5. And inside of that was 22 pounds of collector's gold. And he even had a picture of it for people to look at. So they could look at that and know exactly what they were looking for.

I'm not sure if there might even have been a picture with it open so they could see what's inside. How should they go looking for it? Well, Forrest told them what he would do. And he ought to know. He's the one that hid it. He said, "Read my book just like you'd read any other book. Then read my poem over and over and over and over slowly." And the keyword was thinking. That's important.

And then he says, "Read my book again after you got this poem down and look for subtle hints in there that will help you identify those nine clues that are in there. And if you do it right, it will take you straight to it." 349,999 did not find it. One man did. By the way, the book is still available on Amazon starting at $30 in case you want it now that the treasure's found. I thought just even in a financial thing, that was not a bad move. I think he regained his $2 million.

If you take 350,000 books times 30, not a bad trade in financial sense. What is the kingdom of heaven? Well, if you're in Matthew 13, I'd like to just briefly mention the different things that Jesus says in this chapter that the kingdom of heaven is like. The first parable is the parable of the sower.

And he doesn't start out that one, at least in this book, with saying, "This is what the kingdom of heaven is like." But I think it is one of them because if you look in verse 11 and verse 10, his disciples said, "So why are you speaking in parables?" And his answer was, "Because it is given to you to know the mysteries of the kingdom of God." So I think that parable was one of them that Jesus was describing what the kingdom of God was like. And I'm not going to read it.

I'm going to assume that you all know it very well. And the same with a lot of these. The next parable is in verse 24 where he says, "It is like a man who sows good seed in his field." So a very similar comparison as the first one. And that one he also explains. In verse 30, he says, "The kingdom of heaven is like a mustard seed which a man took and sowed in his field." Again, a very similar picture.

In verse 33, "The kingdom of heaven is like leaven" or I think we would use the word yeast today "which a woman took and hid in three measures of meal." A very similar comparison. In verse 44 and 45, we already mentioned the treasure and the merchant, the seeker. In verse 47, it says, "The kingdom of heaven is like a dragnet that was cast into the sea and gathered some of every kind." Oh, and I missed one where he talked about the kingdom of heaven. No, that's I already did that one.

The tares and the wheat, we call it. Let's take a look at just a few more in Matthew 18. And again, I won't read all of these. They're familiar. I didn't write down the verse where this one starts. Well, verse 23, after Peter had asked him how many times he should forgive, says, "Therefore the kingdom of heaven is like a certain king who wanted to settle accounts with his servants." And you remember that one where he found one that didn't have things paid up. The bill was too big.

And he says, "I'm going to put you in prison till you pay for gaving." He went out and did not return the favor and wound up back in prison. I want to read what it says at the end of that parable, verse 35. "So my heavenly Father also will do to you if each of you from his heart does not forgive his brother his trespasses." I don't think we do the parable of likening it to the kingdom justice until we see what Jesus says as his punchline. I think that's very important.

Matthew 20:1, "The kingdom of heaven is like a landowner who went out early in the morning to hire laborers for his vineyard." And this is the one where he decided how much to pay them. And they get to the end and they all get the same amount and they complain. And this is Jesus' comment at the end, verse 15 and 16, "Is it not lawful for me to do what I wish with my own things? Or is your eye evil because I am good? So the last will be first and the first last.

For many are called, but few are chosen." Chapter 22 of Matthew, verse 2, "The kingdom of heaven is like a certain king who arranged a marriage for his son. And he went out and invited a whole bunch of people. They didn't come. So they went out and drug him in from the sidewalks and highways. And then there was one there that was not dressed properly for the feast. And at the end, Jesus says this, "For many are called, but few are chosen." A very of the same ending as the one in the previous chapter.

Chapter 25, verse 1, "And the kingdom of heaven shall be likened to ten virgins who took their lamps and went to meet the bridegroom. Five were wise, five were foolish.

And five got in and five didn't." And at the end, this is what Jesus says, "Watch therefore, for you know not neither the day nor the hour in which the Son of Man is coming." And he goes right into another one, "For the kingdom of heaven is like a man traveling to a far country which called his own servants and delivered his goods to them." And we have the parable of the talents.

And at the end, these are his words, "For to everyone," verse 29, "For to everyone who has, more will be given and he will have abundance. But from him who does not have, even what he has will be taken away." And I think there may be a few other ones in some of the other gospels. What is this kingdom? Jesus went to pretty extensive lengths to describe it to things. Do we get the picture? Do we have a picture of a bronze box? Know how big it is, what it looks like? Do we know what we're looking for?

That is a question I ask myself many, many times. Do I really know what I'm looking for? Just in a bit of a summary, I'll capitalize what I kind of capture out of this. And again, I'm not sure how clear it is. But this seed, he keeps describing the kingdom of God as a seed. Well, I know what seeds are. I know what they do. I plant them. They grow. So I get the picture of this kingdom as something that's kind of indiscriminately spread many times. Sometimes we specifically plant it.

But it's like it injects life into the soil. And there's something immensely bigger and greater than this little seed that comes out. And he talks about it producing many 100% from what we put in. And this indiscriminate thing seems to come out too, especially in the parables of the wheat and the tares where he just kind of sows it around. The parable of the dragnet where it catches all kinds of fish. This kingdom of God is not limited just to specific people. It is available to everybody.

It's just indiscriminately out there. When he talks about the sower sowing the seed, it goes on all the soils. There's no restrictions to where this goes. And we already talked about it's like a treasure that's hidden. And as Forrest said about his, it's not easy to find, but it's not impossible. And Jesus kind of left that impression too. It's going to require some search. It's like a hidden treasure. And it's also like the man that is persistent in looking for it. He doesn't give up. He just keeps looking.

In the last parables, one of the things that really stands out to me in the last several where there's this king involved is this thing of accountability. It's a big thing in God's kingdom, this thing of accountability. Not particularly control, but intense accountability. Every man is brought to account and looked at what happens with his life. And some kind of verdict is passed. That especially I like this part here. We're not just looking for a treasure to bless ourselves.

We're looking for a treasure and something that invites God's verdict of well done, not good and faithful servant. So this kingdom is going to make you accountable. If you're searching for this, you can expect that you're going to face something that's going to say, "So what did you do? What happened?" And there will be a verdict passed. The ten virgins I think is a good parable for that. There's five that make it, five that don't.

And no one was trying to control them, but they were held accountable for what they did with what they had. Another thing that seems to be there is this anticipation, an element of surprise. And that one comes out in the parable of the virgins. They're anticipating this bridegroom coming. They don't know when. And Jesus says, "Be ready. Watch. You're not sure exactly when this is going to happen." So when am I going to happen on this box? I'm pursuing this. When's it going to come to be a reality?

And another one is investment, especially the talents. The king invested in his servants. And he expected them to in turn invest. It's not just an investment on the king's part. We become a part of that investment. And that's part of this kingdom as well. I don't know how clear that all is to you. It seems really big to me. But it starts to give me a picture. And I want that picture to become more clear, more sharp as I do this seeking, this pursuing. So how do we go about seeking?

Well, Forrest gave his verdict, "Read my book. Read my poem. Read my poem. Read my poem. Read my poem. Read my poem. Read my book." And he assumed that you were going to go looking. So I guess you had to get off of your couch like he wanted the teenagers to do and get out in the woods, smell the sunshine. Interesting concept. But that was his method. Does Jesus give us any methods to search for this? He tells us what it's like. Does he tell us how to go about it?

I think in some of those parables, we could maybe get some clues. But I'm not sure those parables were so much to tell us how to look as they were to tell us what it is. I think Jesus did give us some pretty big clues as to what it looks like to go looking for this treasure, this hidden treasure. He told his disciples on that first one. And maybe I should just read that again. Verse 11, he answered when they said, "Why do you speak in parables?

Because it has been given to you to know the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven. But to them, it has not been given." Now that somehow suddenly looks like he's selecting people for this. But you have to keep reading. "For whoever has, to him will more be given." There's this here. We read that at the end of one of the other ones. "And he will have abundance. But whoever does not have, even what he has will be taken away.

Therefore I speak to them in parables because," and now we find out what the key is, what the difference is. Why do some people, why is it given and why to other people it isn't? "Because seeing, they do not see. And hearing, they do not hear. Nor do they understand. And in them, the prophecy of Isaiah is fulfilled which says, 'Hearing, you will hear and shall not understand. And seeing, you will see and not perceive.' For the hearts of this people have grown dull. Their ears are hard of hearing.

And their eyes, they have closed. Lest they should see with their eyes and hear with their ears. Lest they should understand with their hearts in turn, I should heal them." So yes, it's like the parable says. It's thrown to everybody. But there's something goes on here. He talks about things that these people have done to themselves that cause a problem. So I think it's important that we, like John and someone else prayed this morning, that we tear down our defenses.

We open ourselves up to the truth that God is going to give us in his book, in his poems, in his people and say, "I want to get this. I really want to get this." We want something. These other people didn't want anything. They didn't want to change. So they closed their ears. They closed their eyes. They hardened their heart and says, "I don't want change. Somehow I want this million dollars." So that's one key. Another one is in Matthew chapter 6 in the passage where it talks about seeking for the hidden treasure.

It says, "No man can serve two masters. For either hate the one, despise the other, love the one, hold to the other. You cannot serve God a mammon." I'm going to assume this is fair. You don't have to do this if you want to. But just take the word serve and turn it to seek. You can't look for both at the same time. He talks about having a single eye in the next verse. When we look for this treasure, we need to be single-minded. We need to be looking just for that, not for anything else.

I think that's another important key that he mentions. Turn to Luke 17. There's another, I think, very important clue for us that Jesus gave. Luke 17, verse 20 and 21 and then down through 22, 24. "Now when he was asked by the Pharisees when the kingdom of God would come," they were kind of in this hunt. "He answered them and said, 'The kingdom of God does not come with observation.

Nor will they say, 'See here or see there.' For indeed, the kingdom of God is within you or among you.' And then he said to his disciples, 'The day will come when you will desire to see one of the days of the Son of Man and you will not see it. And they will say to you, 'Look here or look there.' Do not go after them or follow them.

For as the lightning that flashes out of one part under heaven shines to the other part under heaven, so also the Son of Man will be in his day.'" So Jesus said this search is kind of different. There's something very different about this than any other search. It does not come with observation. It's not you look over there or you look over there. But it's going to be like something really obvious. He says lightning that lights up the whole sky.

That maybe is more like some of the clues Forrest had in his that just people didn't understand. I'm not always sure what to make of that one. But let's look at some examples, people that Jesus talked to that were actually looking for this kingdom. And see what does he tell them? You can turn to John chapter 3. Again, a familiar passage. And we'll pick some things out of there. Nicodemus. This passage has been fascinating more and more over the years. So it's really interesting.

But Nicodemus comes to Jesus at night. And I think it's really interesting that he says, "Okay, Jesus, we know who you are. We know you're from God." And right away, Jesus says, "I say to you, unless one is born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God." And I remember the one time I read that. It's almost like this is a disconnect. So Nicodemus says, "Yeah, we know that you're sent from God. You're a teacher from God.

And the signs you should do, it's just evident." And Jesus said, "You can't see it if you're not born again." So I wonder what kind of check went through Nicodemus's mind. But Nicodemus kept going. He says, "Well, all right. So where are we going with this? How does a person get born again and enter a second time into the womb?" Now that's kind of something that comes with observation. But Jesus kept going.

He says, "Most assuredly, I say it to you, unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of heaven." So Jesus keeps pushing this thing. He says, "Well, you can't see it if you're not born again. And if you're not born again, you're not getting in." And he explains a little bit what he means then. He says, "That which is born of the flesh is flesh. And that which is born of the Spirit is Spirit.

Don't marvel that I say unto you, 'You must be born again.' The wind blows where it wishes and you hear the sound thereof, but cannot tell where it comes or where it's going. So is everyone that is born of the Spirit." He says there's something about this in your pursuit of the kingdom that does not connect with physical observation. So the wind blows, but you can't see. Oh, and we put weather vanes up and we see which way they're pointing. But does that really tell you where the wind comes from?

The wind goes around corners sometimes. I mean, it's like, do you really know where it comes? And do you really know where it's going to end up? So he says, "You need to be born again." And it's pretty evident that he's saying you have got to become a different being. You can't be the same physical person if you want to even see the kingdom, let alone get in. It's not a flesh thing. It's not a physical thing. It is a spiritual thing. And there's other places where Jesus emphasized that.

So you become a brand new being, which means you have a new way of looking. You have a new way of processing. You have a new perspective. So it takes a big change to start looking for this. Another example is the rich young ruler in Matthew chapter 19. So you may turn to that and see what Jesus tells him. He doesn't come to Jesus and say that he wants the kingdom. He wanted to know what he needed to do to inherit eternal life.

But when Jesus went and explained to his disciples what was going on, he brought in this kingdom thing. So let me know this story. What must I do? Well, what are the commandments of the law? Yeah, I've done all them. And Jesus said, "Well, there's one thing you're missing yet." And I think this brings in the investment thing that we talked about. He says, "Sell what you have and give to the poor." And the young man says he went away sad. He couldn't do that. He couldn't part with his stuff.

And this is Jesus' comment to his disciples starting in verse 22, well, 23. "Then Jesus said to his disciples, 'Assuredly, I say to you that it is hard for a rich man to enter the kingdom of heaven.'" So there is another big clue. Riches are going to make it hard for you to get into the kingdom of heaven. He says, "In fact, I'm going to tell you this again. It's easier for a camel to squeeze itself through your sewing machine needle eye than it is for a rich man to get to heaven." And they were amazed.

Who can do it? Then he's kind of like what Forrest Fenn said. It's really hard. But it is not impossible. With men, this is impossible. But with God, all things are possible. So you're not going to do it by yourself. That's another clue. At the end of this chapter, the disciples, they start thinking about themselves. So let me read the last couple of verses of this chapter. "Then Peter answered and said to him, 'See, we have done what this young man didn't want to do. We've left everything and followed you.

Well, what do we get?'" I like Peter. He's pretty real. "So Jesus said to him, 'Assuredly, I say to you that in the regeneration, when the Son of Man sits on the throne of his glory, you who have followed me will also sit on twelve thrones judging the twelve tribes of Israel. And anyone who has left houses or brothers or sisters or father or mother or wife or children or lands for my sake shall receive a hundredfold and inherit eternal life.

But many who are first will be last and the last first.'" There's again that little thing that he put at the end of one of his parables. So you have got to give it up if you want to pursue, if you want to go after this kingdom. You just leave it all behind. And that's where you start. So he did give us some pretty specific directions about how we go on this treasure hunt. It's not in a book. It's not in a creed. I like what Jesus told his disciples. And I'm not sure who all was listening.

But let me read the verse in John chapter 5. It doesn't mean books and all that are not involved at all. But you're not going to find it in the book. If Forrest Fenn's seekers would have just kept reading his book and kept reading his palm and kept reading his book and kept reading his palm, they would have never got to the treasure. I think it's very similar for us. Jesus said in John chapter 5, verse 38, he was talking to, I guess, the Pharisees actually about who he was and his credentials.

And he says in verse 38, "You do not have his word abiding in you because whom he sent, him you do not believe." His word isn't in you. You haven't accepted me. "You search the scriptures. For in them you think you have eternal life. And these are they which testify of me. But you are not willing to come to me that you may have life." So it's not like they didn't know the scriptures. They knew them frontwards, backwards, sideways, any way you want to do it. They memorized them.

But he said, "You're missing the whole point of the scripture. They talk about me. And so here I am and you're rejecting me." So we can't stay in the book. We have to figure out what the book is trying to tell us or be open to what the book is trying to tell us if we really want to find this treasure. And this one's telling us about Jesus. So there's another really big clue.

If you want to find this treasure, make sure you get acquainted with the person that has the treasure or, in Fenn's case, that hid the treasure. And that's why I'd like to read that thing at the end. I might wind up having to make a part two to this whole thing. We talked a little bit in Sunday school about this thing of the law. And Edsel referred to the verse. And I would just like to read those verses in connection with this whole thing.

Romans chapter 8, verses 3 through 5 says, "For what the law could not do in that it was weak through the flesh," remember what Jesus told Nicodemus? What's born of the flesh is flesh. And that's not going to make it. You cannot get in. You can't even see it. "What the law could not do in that it was weak through the flesh, God did by sending his own Son." Jesus said, "You're looking in the scriptures and here I am. Right here I am.

If you've been looking in there the right way, you should look at me and say, 'Wow, right there it is.'" But he said, "The law couldn't do it. But God sent his Son in the likeness of sinful flesh on account of sin and condemned sin in the flesh that the righteous requirement of the law might be fulfilled in us." I really like that. So we think we're going to read it in the law and get the righteousness down pat. It says here it's not going to happen. It happens when we get acquainted with Jesus.

And he took care of that. And now we can get this verdict that God has that says, "Well done." So it can be filled, who do not walk after the flesh were born again were walking in the Spirit. "For those who live according to the flesh set their minds on fleshly things." The Bible talks about changing our mind. Well, if we're born in the Spirit, now we have a mind that does spirit things. But those who live according to the Spirit, they think on things of the Spirit. So all the information is here.

But we need to connect it to the right person, the right thing. Jesus said that the kingdom is taken by violence. People press into it. There's another clue. It's not going to be easy. We might have to squeeze through the eye of a needle to get there. It's not something we can do ourselves. But with God, all things are possible. We're going to have to get rid of all of our fleshly dreams and give all of our dreams and desires to God, be born again and live in the Spirit. And then Jesus says that's how it works.

Quite a few years ago, I read this story, Carry On, Mr. Bodich. How many of you are familiar with that story? Wow, not as many as I hoped. Well, I'll summarize it just a little bit. It's actually a biography. It's a true story. I don't know how much of it was made up to make the story. But Nathaniel Bodich was a self-taught person. He self-taught him Latin and math because he could not go to school because he needed to help at home.

And he spent nine years indentured to a ship shandler, which is a person that makes things for ships, candles, whatever. He finally got to go to sea and discover what sea life was all about. And since he knew his math so well, he soon discovered that the books that they used for navigation had mistakes in them. And some of them were dangerous mistakes. If the ship was trying to follow those, they'd probably get off course and lose their ship and maybe their lives.

So he invents a new way of calculating all this stuff, using the sextant and the stars and all of that, and makes a new book that has all these things fixed, which they claim is still in use today. And he even taught the crews that he was working with, that he was with, he would teach them some of this stuff. Finally, one day he becomes a captain of a ship. And he has a crew. And he teaches his entire crew how to do this navigating math and use this stuff. And I forget the details.

And I went and looked for a book and didn't find it. So I couldn't brush it up. But I think the trip from the southern tip of Africa to the Philippines is one of the most dangerous trips that a ship can make. And often ships will use, rather than go direct, they'll take a roundabout route, maybe go around Australia or something, a lot longer route that's safer. But not Nathaniel Bodich. He has a ship full of people that know how to navigate. And they just go right straight there.

And they get there in front of all these other ships. And these other ships say, "Well, how'd you get here?" "Oh, we just went." "Oh, you didn't do that. Nobody makes that." "Well, yeah. You just have to know how to do it." What fascinates me about that is the stories that Jesus gives of the kingdom are people that have studied and taken this kingdom law into their hearts. And they know the books. They know how it works. And Nathaniel Bodich had a ship full of captains. And they didn't fight. Isn't it amazing?

Most ships had one captain that knew where they were going. And everyone else was on there just trying to eke a living out. And they didn't really care what happened as long as they got their pay. But not Nathaniel's ship. It was full of people that were part of the voyage. They were invested in the voyage. And they all worked at getting there. That is so incredible to me. That's the kingdom of God.

God wants us to get rid of our own little petty things, to try to work our life away just for the basic things that we need, enter into his voyage, into his plan, his purpose, and be a part of it. And we can do things that nobody else can do. So awesome. A whole ship crew of captains. And they didn't fight. That just blessed me so much. Well, I think I'll take the time to read at least parts of this story about the finder. We don't have his name. The only comment that Forrest made about him, he's from Back East.

So let's just say he's one of us. And he writes this. He wrote this this month because he wrote it after Forrest died. "My friend Forrest Burke Fenn passed away at the age of 90 earlier this month. And if I have anything to say about it, far too soon. September 8th must have been the day he died, but certainly not the first time Forrest made me cry. I am the person who found Forrest's famed treasure. And that was in June of 2020. The moment it happened was not the triumphant Hollywood ending some surely envisioned.

It just felt like I had just survived something and was fortunate to come out the other end. For so long, I thought I might be hunted for the rest of, might be hunting for the rest of my day, haunted, sorry, for the rest of my days by knowing where the treasure was but not being able to find it. Would I still be out there in that section of Forrest 50 years from now looking for it?

When I finally found it, the primary emotion was not joy but rather the most profound feeling of relief in my entire life." That just jumped out at me. "When we finally find the kingdom, it's not going to make us so happy as much as it's going to relieve us that we have got the thing that our life fits into." I really like that. "I figured out the location where he wished to die and thus where his treasure was." He didn't actually get to die there back in 2018.

"But it took me many months to figure out the exact spot. This treasure hunt was the most frustrating experience of my life. There were a few times when I exhausted, covered in scratches and bites and sweat and pine pitch and nearing the end of my day's water supply, sat down on a downed tree and just cried alone in the woods in sheer frustration. I spent about 25 full days of failure looking for the treasure at that location before getting it.

When I got back to my rental car after the find, I put my hands on the steering wheel and bulbed my eyes out. Then I remembered Forrest said the person who found the chest would either laugh out loud or start crying. I realized he had been right and started to get annoyed that I couldn't stop his quotes from popping into my head even after the chase was finally done. I laughed at myself for getting annoyed. Then I realized I had just fulfilled his other premonition about laughing out loud.

In the weeks after, I still couldn't stop myself from reflexively thinking about what he was thinking. After living inside his head for two years, meeting him in person was sensory overload. I could now analyze his words and facial expressions and tone in real time, mere feet away from me. I could ask him questions about the chase. And he would actually answer them. I never got used to it. And I was still analyzing him unnecessarily when he died, unable to turn my obsession off.

That paragraph kind of reminds me of maybe what it'll be like when we get to heaven and actually meet Jesus face to face. It's probably good we won't have these bodies or it would be sensory overload. Now that he's gone, I'm no longer annoyed. I'm no longer annoyed. Those Fenn quotes are still rattling around my brain. His words still live with me in every searcher out there for the rest of our lives. I spent a couple more days crying after Forrest passed. He had meant so much to me in such a short time.

And I had so much more I had wanted to ask him, the kind of things that were just better done face to face. For weeks, he had wanted to fly me back to Santa Fe to spend more time with him. He even tried to convince me to move there. But circumstances out of our control made it more practical for me to come later. I had never met Forrest until this June. And it was destined to be our only time spent together in person. But I'm thankful for the time we did have.

When I met Forrest, I told him I hadn't been sure I would ever get to meet him. The treasure was just too hard to find. He told me with a big smile that he had always said it was difficult to find but not impossible. And I had proved him right. Forrest Fenn was born in 1930 in Temple, Texas, a poor student who disappointed his educator father.

He grew into a life of adventure, a decorated Air Force pilot who was shot down in the Vietnam War and survived the Laos jungle, a rackish and prominent art dealer who courted the rich and famous, and in his third and final act, a compulsive memorist who wrote a poem that launched a treasure hunt in the Rocky Mountains that inspired many thousands of regular folks the world over. Forrest wrote poignantly about his struggles with self-esteem and self-worth. And it's probably these writings I connected to most.

In the few years before I had heard of Forrest Fenn, my confidence in myself had been totally destroyed. I like to think it aided me in finding the treasure. Without any self-confidence in my abilities, I had to stick to the evidence and not stray into hunches and speculations not strictly supported by the facts and into their close cousin confirmation bias. Knowing the exact spot on the globe where a person would like to die is a weird intimacy to share with a stranger.

But the experience of figuring it out and proving it beyond a reasonable doubt provided confidence that was intoxicating to me and perhaps helping me regain that belief in myself will be Forrest, that belief in myself will be Forrest's greatest legacy to me. In the outpouring of love Forrest received from his fans after his death, it was clear he knew just what to say to make people feel special.

For me, it was soon after I told him I found the treasure when he let me know, completely unprompted, that he thought I was a genius. Forrest had the ultimate poker face.

In the summer of 2018, the only time I had talked to Forrest on the phone before finding the treasure, I called him to tell him in desperation I had found a blaze, the mark that the poem says, points to the treasure, that seemed, after some effort by me, to have been faked by a cruel fellow searcher even though it had evidently been there for years. I couldn't believe the chances. I told him exactly where I had been searching. But the call only lasted about 20 seconds.

And he gave no impression he found my discovery at all interesting. That fake blaze was less than 1,000 feet from where I eventually found the treasure. And that's not even half of that story. Of course, Fenn's greatest gift to humanity was his treasure. Sure, it could only be given to one person, the one who found it, but it inspired hope the world over and the joy of discovery for all those who got to go out and appreciate the wonders of the Rockies. No good deed goes unpunished, of course.

And that hope spun off into myriad permutations Forrest couldn't have anticipated. In some, that hope turned into false certainty in some people's minds. And they had to be rescued or tragically perished after finding themselves in dangerous circumstances out in the wilderness. In others, that hope turned into entitlement, that the hard work they put into this all-or-nothing hunt meant they were owed the treasure in some way.

And that entitlement turned into bitterness and loud recitations of his personal imperfections that some declared to the world in the wake of his death. In others, the hope turned, in others still, the hope turned into obsession that tricked their own minds into strange and harmful ideas. At my most raw points of gnawing frustration, even I resented Forrest. Forrest had a tremendous penchant, though, for turning the other cheek. He did an incredible thing and dealt with tremendous doubt directed his way.

But he kept to his word. And it was a gratifying experience to prove him right. In a final act of selflessness, in what should have been his moment of redemption, he went to great lengths to protect my anonymity. Over the last decade, he and his family have suffered stalkers, break-ins, and a potential kidnapping, just to name the things that have been publicized, from misguided searchers. I told him I didn't want to be looking over my shoulder for people like that for the rest of my life.

And he was completely understanding. Forrest went out of his way to protect me, a person he had never met before, even though in some ways it undermined the legitimacy of this hunt in some people's mind. My family and I will be eternally grateful. It's incredibly generous to leave a chest full of gold out in the wilderness for someone to find. It's a whole other thing to set aside one's driving desire for a legacy in order to protect that stranger. Selflessness is the only way to describe it.

Alas, I'm a millennial and have student loans to pay off. So it wouldn't be prudent to continue to own the Fenn treasure. And at the end of the day, for all our similarities, Forrest and I couldn't be less alike when it comes to collecting. I'm the kind of person who feels burdened by possessions and most free adventuring the world out of his carry-on suitcase. So the treasure and I will have to soon part. And I will offer it for sale, minus a turquoise rope bracelet returned to Forrest, of course.

As for the legacy of Forrest's chase, I suppose it is in my hands. It is in many ways in my hands, as wrong as that feels. To be honest, I'm not sure what to do. I think I'll stop there. So there are so many things that he puts in there that I could go back and comment on. But I guess the one that really stands out to me, and I don't know Forrest, so I don't know where he is with God.

But the two things that he mentioned about him, I think, are very important for us to understand about God and in our understanding our pursuit of the kingdom. One is the generosity and selflessness that he sents from Forrest. And the other one was his willingness to do all in his power to protect the person who found his treasure. And I think those are things that God does for us. If we're going to pursue his treasure, his kingdom, he is immense more generous than a Forrest Fenn in making that for us.

And when we do find it, he is immensely more capable of protecting us and nourishing us. And he even does that in the hunt, which I don't think that's anything Forrest Fenn was necessarily interested in. Even in our pursuit of it, we will receive from God the things that we need to sustain our lives and keep us going. I won't take the time to read them. But I'd like to remind you of Romans chapter 7, the last part of chapter 7, and the beginning of Romans chapter 8.

For us to find the kingdom, we're going to have to go through that struggle that Romans 7 talks about. And I think sometimes we even go through it as Christians in pursuing that kingdom because our flesh is not interested in that kind of a thing. Flesh is flesh. It is not interested in the Spirit. But as we allow God to fill us with the Spirit and we follow that, then we will be like he says at the end of 7, we will be delivered from this thing that wants to destroy us, this body of death.

And we will find life in Christ. And Romans 12 talks about being transformed by the renewing of our mind. We have got to change our minds about things if we really want to see and pursue the kingdom. I know I have to. There are things that come up. And I say, "I have to quit thinking this way about this. I have to find out what does God want me to think?" And this fellow talked about getting into Forrest's mind for two years. We have got to get into the mind of Christ if we want to understand and see the kingdom.

It won't happen any other way. And Philippians tells us what that's like. "Let this mind be in you." And it's not about ourselves. It's about someone else. You can read those for yourself. The treasure hunt, the chase. What are you? What am I looking for? You cannot seek for God and personal fame at the same time. So if you're interested in the kingdom, you have got to quit thinking about yourself. That's very important. You'll pursue one or the other. They just won't go together. You'll focus on one or the other.

And another thing that Jesus said is where your treasure is, I'm going to rephrase this a little bit. And you can decide if it's right or not. But that's where you'll find your heart. Your choice is your treasure. You get to choose your treasure. And once you've done that, that's where you will find your heart. If you choose the kingdom of God as your treasure, that's where your heart will be. So choosing your treasure, then you pursue your heart. How are you looking? Have you been born again?

Have you become a new person? Have I let God change me into a new creature that Paul talks about where all the old things have passed away and everything is new? You have a new perspective, a new spirit. Have I changed my mind? Have I allowed the Spirit of God every time it comes up against something in my mind that's not the way it should be?

Have I allowed that spirit to change the way I think, to change my mind about it, and allow that new thinking, that new perspective to take over how I view things and how I process things? Many, many are called, but few are chosen. That's something that has really impressed me about the kingdom of God. Matter of fact, you could almost say everybody's called. But it is only the people that have opened their eyes and opened their heart to allow God to make them a new person that will actually experience it.

And I don't know what the thing means where it says the first will be last and last first. I still haven't, but I don't feel like I have a good explanation for that. But I know there is one. And I'm excited about finding out what it is, whether I'm first or whether I'm last. My simplest explanation, it doesn't really matter whether you're first or last. It will be there. Thank you. Are there any comments?