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The Kingdom of God is like a Fine Pearl

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[Matthew 13:45-46]

"Again, the kingdom of heaven is like a merchant looking for fine pearls.

When he found one of great value, he went away and sold everything he had and bought it.

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Jesus often used parables to preach important lessons.
Today, Jesus gave moral lessons to people by telling parables.

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In a city, a very famous pearl merchant lived.
This man worked very hard to find good pearls.

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There were already a lot of nice pearls in his house. He was very devoted to his work that if he heard there is a good pearl in some place, he went no matter what to buy that pearl.

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Even today, he heard that there is a very precious pearl in a town so he ran to buy it.  He asked to other people where the pearl was and finally arrived to the owner of that pearl.

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This merchant knocked on the door of the pearl owner.
“Excuse me. Please open the door. I heard that you own a very precious pearl so I came from very far to buy your pearl. Please open the door.”

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Finally, the door opened and the owner of the pearl came out.
“You came to buy that pearl? Then, please come in and take a look at it first.” The merchant calmed his excited heart and went inside.

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When the merchant saw the pearl, he almost fainted out of surprise.
The pearl was incomparably beautiful than any other pearls he had seen before.

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However, there was a problem.
The pearl was a lot more expensive than he had thought.
The money he had was not even close enough to buy that pearl.

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The merchant quickly returned to his home. Then, he sold everything in his house to buy that pearl. Since he knew how precious that pearl was, he did not even hesitate to sell all of his belongings to make the right amount of money.

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Then, he brought the money and went to the owner of that pearl again.
“Here, I have made enough money to buy this pearl. Now, please sell it to me.”
So, he was able to buy the pearl that he really wanted.

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The merchant was very happy that he had bought that pearl.
He was happier than any other time in his life.
He held that pearl in his hand and danced for joy.

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The reason why Jesus told us this story is to teach us about heaven.
Heaven is like this precious pearl, which we should realize that it is worth all we have in order for us to enter.

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Just like the merchant who sold all he had to buy that precious pearl, we should realize that heaven, where we are going, is more precious and important than everything we have.

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However, what we truly should be thankful about is the fact that there is a way to enter this heaven. That is to believe our Jesus, who died on the cross for our sins and who resurrected in three days. If we accept that Jesus into our hearts, God gives us heaven as a free gift. Now, what a great blessing that is!

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Therefore, dear beloved friends, if you already believe Jesus and are going to heaven, remember how precious this heaven you are going is; and work harder to keep your faith. But, if you do not have the confidence that you are going to heaven yet, please accept Jesus into your heart at this moment and have heaven within your heart.

(You can change the conclusion of this sermon best suiting to your listeners of this sermon. We want to make it clear that the provided conclusion is only a sample conclusion provided by CTM.)