Show the following video [3:43]:
Searching for Hidden Treasure in Michigan

The 125 families in the Michigan Treasure Hunters group search for relics that will give them insight into history. The items in their treasure chests reveal something about the lives of the people who once owned them.

• What might a Mickey Mouse watch reveal about the person who once owned it? (Answers will vary; the person liked Mickey Mouse/Disney; the person liked fun things rather than flashy or fancy; the person liked to know what time it was; the person wore a watch, etc.)

The Michigan Treasure Hunters enjoy finding such things as gold and diamonds, but they also like to find coins, pins, and other treasures from the past. Imagine a group of treasure hunters living in our town 150 years or more from now. What might their fun-finds reveal about us and what we treasure?

If you filled a bag or box with treasures before class, present that now. Pull out each item as you talk about it. If you did not fill a bag or box, simply call out the names of various items as you ask the following questions.

• Money and credit cards are definitely part of modern life. What might this treasure reveal about us? Do you think people today treasure money or just use it to survive? (Answers will vary.)
• What a fun-find—a cell phone! What conclusions might people of the future make about us when they find this treasure? (These people like technology; like to keep in touch; like to feel connected; like to play games and use aps; maybe they are too busy or live too far away to get together in person, they value expensive cell phones, etc.)
• What might this fast food container reveal about what is important to people? (Answers will vary: Liked quick food, quick service, eating on the go, taste rather than nutrition, getting what we want when we want it, not having to wait, not having to sit at the table and eat with the family, was in a hurry, didn’t like to cook, etc.)
• What might these earbuds reveal about what people treasure? (Answers will vary; this person loved music or audio books, liked to tune out what was going on around them, lived where it was noisy, etc.)

That is a small sampling of what the treasure hunters in 2170 might find in our town. Let’s see if we can come up with an even longer list of treasures. Think about your daily schedule, where you are and what you do at various times on each day of the week.

• If you dropped something you use at home on a weekend, something you really like, what might that be, and what will the treasure hunters learn about you? (Answers will vary.)
• If you dropped something when out with your friends at school or elsewhere on a weekday—something you like a lot—what might that be, and what will the treasure hunters learn about you? (Answers will vary.)
• If you dropped a list of things you want to have more than anything else in the world, what would that list reveal to the treasure hunters who find it? (Answers will vary.)

The things we own, the people we enjoy, and the activities we choose to spend time on are what we treasure in 2020. Let’s be treasure hunters this morning and look back  to what Jesus explained about treasures.