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Become a person who only boasts about the cross

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May I never boast except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ,
through which the world has been crucified to me, and I to the world.

(Galatians 6:14)

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If you were given time to boast about yourself, what would you boast about?
People like to boast about how much better they are compared to others.
People who have a lot of money enjoy wearing expensive cars or expensive clothes to show off their wealth to others. Also, a person who has learned a lot likes to show off the knowledge he has learned. Also, people who consider their appearance better than others enjoy boasting about it.

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Apostle Paul, who was martyred for preaching the gospel of God all his life, was also a Jew with a lot of boasts. According to Jewish tradition, Paul was circumcised on the eighth day after birth. For Jews, being circumcised on the 8th day is a great boasts.

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Also, Paul was from the tribe of Benjamin, recognized as the highest-ranking tribe in society at the time. Also, as a descendant of Abraham, Paul was born with the pure blood of the Hebrew people. Even in Jewish society, people with pure blood are highly respected.

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In Jewish society, keeping the law well was a matter of great pride. Among them, the Pharisees were exalted as those who best kept the law. Such people are called Pharisees.
Paul was also one of these Pharisees.
That much tells us that he was a person who kept the law well.

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Paul was a man with excellent conditions for learning. Among the Pharisees, Gamaliel was the most respected teacher of the law. Paul learned the law from this teacher Gamaliel.
Paul is perfectly educated when it comes to keeping the law.

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Also, Tarsus, where Paul was born, was a Roman jurisdiction.
It was very difficult for a Jew to obtain Roman citizenship. However, from the time Paul was born, he was a Roman citizen.
Paul was close to a perfect person with no faults in Jewish society.
Paul himself was very proud of everything he had.

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But at some point, Paul confesses that he realized that the things he valued and boasted about were useless.
[But whatever was to my profit I now consider loss for the sake of Christ.
(Philippians 3:7)]

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He confesses that he regarded not only the things he valued and boasted about, but also all the things that he said were precious on earth, like excrement or garbage from a person's body.
The reason is because he discovered something precious and valuable that cannot be compared with all of these things. Apostle Paul confesses that there is nothing more precious and valuable than knowing Jesus. And he says that for the sake of Jesus he has given up everything he considered to be proud of.
[What is more, I consider everything a loss compared to the surpassing greatness of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whose sake I have lost all things.
I consider them rubbish, that I may gain Christ (Philippians 3:8)]

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Paul, originally called Saul, did not believe in the existence of Jesus.
He hated those who believed in Jesus so much that he thought of them as people who should be eliminated from this earth.
He thought that believing in Jesus was something mad people did and was worthless.

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Paul was on his way to arrest believers in Jesus living in a place called Damascus.
At that time, Jesus himself appeared to Paul on his way to Damascus.
Paul, who saw that Jesus was alive, changed all his thoughts until now.
In the meantime, he realized that believing in Jesus and being saved was the most precious and valuable thing, more than anything he thought was valuable.

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After that day, Paul begins to live a completely different life. He only, he began to do everything he could for the sake of Jesus.
He did the work of preaching Jesus wherever he went.

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Paul suffered many hardships while testifying about Jesus. He even went through being imprisoned unjustly for preaching Jesus.
He was beaten five times, less than one stroke from 40, the most dishonorable punishment in Jewish society. He was even stoned to death.

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Even under such great suffering, Paul did not stop preaching the gospel. Paul was rather honored that he suffered for Jesus. And he confessed that his only boast was the cross on which Jesus himself died to save us.
[May I never boast except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, through which the world has been crucified to me, and I to the world(Galatians 6:14)]

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The apostle Paul tells us what those who believe in Jesus and are saved should boast about.
We who believed in Jesus and were saved received as a gift the kingdom of heaven, which cannot be bought even with all the most valuable things in this world.
The reason we can go to heaven is because Jesus died on the cross, bearing all our sins.

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To us, the cross of Jesus is more valuable and valuable than everything in this world.
Those who are saved by the grace of the cross and possess the kingdom of heaven confess like Paul.

“I have nothing to boast about except the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ.”

Those who are saved do not worry or daunt because they do not have what others boast about.
It is because we are the ones who have been given the gift of salvation that cannot be bought with all they boast about.

Like the apostle Paul, we must become people who confess that our greatest boast is the cross.

(This is the sample conclusion provided by CTM. Please feel free to change the conclusion to best suit the listeners of your sermon.)