00:00: It dawned on me this week that this past week that we just finished marks 30 years in my life since someone first shared the gospel with me.
00:13: Just over 30 years ago was the first time I heard the gospel.
00:17: And in case you're wondering, no, I'm not 32 or 33 years old where I grew up in a Christian family and got to hear it from the earliest memory stage.
00:26: And in fact, this coming Tuesday, two days from now, will mark 30 years since Bruce led me in prayer to submit my life to the Lord Jesus Christ as my Savior, as my God, as my King.
00:42: 30 years of following Jesus.
00:44: And it all goes back to a man named Bruce that took a chance in sharing Jesus with me.
00:53: He took a chance that I wouldn't respond favorably.
00:56: He took the chance that I might be offended or irritated or annoyed or want to keep my arm's length after that.
01:04: He took a chance.
01:05: He cared about me enough to share the good news of Jesus.
01:10: I remember that.
01:13: I remember being in his living room.
01:15: I remember visiting with him.
01:16: I remember him helping me with stuff in my life and using that as an opportunity to share the gospel.
01:24: Do you remember when the light bulb went on for you?
01:29: Do you remember when somebody shared the gospel with you and you understood it?
01:34: Or maybe when you'd heard it and you'd heard it and you'd heard it, but then finally there was a moment that you said, yes, I want that.
01:42: I need that.
01:43: I need Jesus.
01:46: Some of you, the answer is no, because you grew up in a Christian family and you don't really remember because you were so young.
01:51: And that's okay.
01:53: Some of you do remember.
01:56: And whether you remember it or not, what happened is somebody loved you enough to share with you what you needed to hear.
02:09: Somebody risked their own comfort and ease to share with you what you needed to hear.
02:16: They risked your irritation.
02:18: They risked the possibility of that impacting their relationship with you in a negative way.
02:24: They risked it because they said, I care more about you than I care about my own comfort.
02:33: We didn't this morning, but most Sundays we have a missions moment as part of our worship service.
02:40: We don't do that because there's some kind of obligation in our denomination or biblically that we have to do that.
02:47: We do it because we want to, as a church family, be about taking the gospel to all peoples.
02:56: We do that because we want to be a church that's intentional about sending missionaries, empowering missionaries, funding missionaries, praying for missionaries.
03:04: And when we hear what God is doing through the missionaries that we support, I think it's an encouragement thing for us.
03:11: It helps keep our minds on what's happening and what we're a part of because out of sight, out of mind.
03:18: If we don't take time to be reminded of what God is doing through Joel and Joanne and Josh and Brad and Kendra and Pastor Jonathan and his wife Linda.
03:32: If we don't remember these things, it's really easy to forget about them and to devalue them.
03:38: But missions moments are also a reminder and intended to be an encouragement to us to be taking the gospel out on our own mission field.
03:50: Maybe your mission field is at the workplace.
03:53: Maybe it's at home.
03:57: Maybe it's on campus.
03:59: I don't know.
04:01: But I can tell you, describe for me your life and where you go and what you do, and that is your mission field.
04:07: Where God has placed you.
04:11: Bringing God's message of grace and love and forgiveness to the world is not an add-on to Christianity that some of the extroverts might choose to participate in.
04:24: The Great Commission, bringing the gospel to everyone and making disciples of all nations, is not for extroverts and pastors and the rest of the folks get a pass.
04:36: This is for all who know and trust and follow Jesus.
04:41: We, every single one of us in this room who is a Christian, we have been commissioned by God Almighty to bring the good news of Jesus to all people.
04:51: That's why we say here at Faith Chapel, and you have it on your bulletin, we make sure it's printed there, right there.
04:57: We even use color printing for it.
04:59: Our mission is for every believer to become, make, mature, and multiply fully surrendered disciples of Jesus Christ.
05:10: If we're not being about that, then we're missing the point of our existence as a congregation, as a church family.
05:18: That is a non-negotiable central reality and priority for us as a church.
05:24: Not because that's who we've decided we need to be, but because that's who Jesus has decided that we are to be.
05:31: That's New Testament 101.
05:33: Jesus said, All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me.
05:42: Go, therefore, and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, in the name of the Son, in the name of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you.
05:57: And behold, I am with you always, even to the very end of the age.
06:00: These are our marching orders.
06:02: And our mission statement is just a contemporary phrasing of those same priorities.
06:09: This morning, as we dig into Romans 15, we're going to see the Apostle Paul living out these priorities in his relationship to the church in Rome, and even living out his distinctive variation on it that God called him to.
06:25: The New Testament Apostle Paul, a little background on him as you find your way to Romans 15, he had a more specific commission than you or I.
06:33: He was a religiously zealous Jewish man, but as a consequence of his understanding of Judaism, or his misunderstanding of Judaism, he hated Christians and Christianity.
06:44: He wanted nothing to do with Jesus, so he persecuted Christians.
06:47: But God had other plans.
06:49: And while Paul was traveling on the road to Damascus, en route for the very purpose of persecuting Christians, Jesus showed up and met him on his journey and transformed him from the inside out.
07:04: And as part of that, didn't just bring him to a saving faith in Jesus, commissioned him for a lifetime of ministry, specifically as an apostle to the Gentiles, as an apostle to the non-Jewish people who needed Jesus.
07:21: Paul talks about this in Acts 9, Acts 22, and Acts 26.
07:26: Luke records for us the words of Paul on this subject.
07:31: And we see that in our passage this morning.
07:33: But the interesting thing in our passage this morning, as Paul cites this ambition of his and his priority in ministry, he doesn't mention his road to Damascus encounter with Jesus.
07:46: I'll tell you what.
07:47: If I were somebody whose conversion story involved going blind after a dazzling, miraculous manifestation of Jesus, I'd mention that in every single sermon I had.
07:59: Right?
08:00: I'd be like, yeah, I'm a Christian.
08:01: Let me tell you about it.
08:02: Right?
08:03: And I would go to that story over and over, especially if I'm talking about my calling.
08:08: But he's like, let me take you to the Old Testament book of Isaiah, chapter 52.
08:14: Paul wasn't relying just on his personal experience.
08:17: He said, God's word has the same priority that you're seeing manifested in my life.
08:25: You see, he wasn't just saying this is my calling.
08:28: He's saying, look, this is what we believers are a part of.
08:34: And I've got my particular role in this, and you've got your role in this, and we're going to see that as we dig in.
08:40: Verses 18 to 21.
08:45: Paul writes to the church around me, he says, for I will not venture to speak of anything except what Christ has accomplished through me to bring the Gentiles to obedience, by word and deed, by the power of signs and wonders, by the power of the Spirit of God, so that from Jerusalem and all the way around to Illyricum, which I will not be saying again this morning, I have fulfilled the ministry of the gospel of Christ, and thus I make it my ambition to preach the gospel, not where Christ has already been named, lest I build on someone else's foundation, but as it is written, those who have never been told of him will see, and those who have never heard will understand.
09:33: I see humility in that.
09:34: He said, I'm not going to brag about stuff, brag about me and what I'm doing.
09:39: The only stuff I'm going to brag about is what God's been doing.
09:42: And he says, that's been happening through me, but it's God doing it.
09:46: It's Christ accomplishing it.
09:51: You, like me and like Paul, can't accomplish anything worthwhile in life or in ministry.
10:02: Who wants to sign up to serve?
10:05: But you know what?
10:06: Christ can accomplish amazing things through you.
10:09: And that's what we want to be a part of.
10:12: We want to be used by God in ministry to make impact in the world that has consequences that echo for eternity.
10:21: When you share Jesus with someone, and God gets a hold of their heart, that has eternal consequence.
10:28: I'm a pastor 30 years later because Bruce shared the gospel with me.
10:31: And I'm influencing people towards Jesus.
10:37: My kids and my wife are influencing people towards Jesus, and God's used me in that capacity.
10:44: And every bit as much, God has purpose through your representing him to the world.
10:50: Paul's humble.
10:51: He says, not me.
10:51: It's God at work through me.
10:53: He lists some of the ways that God's been at work in his life.
10:55: And he says that he's been at work from Jerusalem and all the way around to the I place.
11:01: Now, if you're not familiar with that place, that's modern-day Albania.
11:06: If you find a map and you find Greece, that funky boot-shaped country, and you go just northwest, it's the neighboring country to the northwest.
11:15: He went as far as that.
11:17: Not the boot-shaped country of Italy, that's directly west across the sea, but the other boot-shaped country.
11:26: He says, I've been in ministry from here all the way to there.
11:29: But he's not just an apostle or a church planter.
11:34: He's a church planter of a certain sort.
11:38: His thing is to plant churches where there are no churches or church influences already present.
11:45: Notice again verses 20 and 21.
11:47: I make it my ambition to preach the gospel, not where Christ has already been named, lest I build on someone else's foundation.
11:54: But as it is written, those who have never been told of him will see.
11:59: And those who have never heard will understand.
12:01: He's saying, I've got to go where nobody's heard about Jesus.
12:04: I've got to go where there aren't any Christians already.
12:07: And I've got to get the message of Jesus to those folks.
12:11: That's my thing.
12:13: That's his particular thing.
12:15: Now, that's not my thing.
12:17: That's not who I am.
12:18: And that's probably not who you are.
12:22: But God has called some people to that kind of work.
12:25: God has called some people to go into the least reached and unreached parts of the world and bring the gospel to those folks.
12:34: And he's called on you and me to enable that and support that.
12:42: Mark, sorry, Matthew 24, 14 says, And this gospel of the kingdom will be preached in the whole world as a testimony to all nations.
12:53: And then the end will come.
12:56: This gospel message has to be taken everywhere to everyone before the end comes, before Jesus returns.
13:02: And we have a role to play in that.
13:05: We are called to do that kind of work here.
13:08: And we're called to enable others to do that kind of work there.
13:12: You and I are all called to both here and there ministry.
13:19: Here, directly.
13:21: There, indirectly.
13:22: How do we do it here?
13:25: How do we support missions there if you're called to live in the Green Bay area?
13:30: Well, if you're involved in one of our life groups here at church, and I hope you are, prayer is a key part of our life groups.
13:39: And praying for our IWs is something that we aim to be doing every time we gather.
13:45: Father, make sure that that is part of the heartbeat and lifeblood of your life group.
13:51: Not just to the leaders, but if you're in a life group, don't let us forget that we're praying for our missionaries.
13:57: We have a prayer chain here at the church, optional to be on it.
14:02: We also have a missions prayer chain, optional to be on it.
14:06: Now, quick guess.
14:08: Three email chains.
14:09: One is the general church email chain.
14:12: One is the prayer chain.
14:13: And one is the missions prayer chain.
14:14: Which one do you suppose has the fewest subscribers?
14:17: It's the missions prayer chain.
14:20: Let me encourage you to consider getting on that.
14:22: Not just to be honest so you can say, well, I signed up.
14:24: But as a reminder to pray for our missionaries regularly.
14:28: To support them before the throne of God in prayer and saying, God, use them.
14:33: God, empower them.
14:34: God, tear down barriers.
14:36: God, change people's hearts.
14:38: God, break through to this person and cause the gospel light bulb to go on so that they receive Jesus.
14:45: You can be part of that.
14:46: You can be part of it through giving.
14:48: Here at Faith Chapel, a certain percentage of our general fund giving is allocated to missions.
14:54: And in addition to that, we encourage every household to, above and beyond your tithing, give explicitly towards funding missions.
15:01: You can put missions or a great commission fund or anything to that effect on any portion of your giving.
15:08: And every dollar designated that way goes right back out towards missions.
15:12: There's no overhead.
15:13: There's no cut of it.
15:14: We send it straight out for missions.
15:16: And it goes in designated giving to Brad and Kendra, serving North Africa and the Middle East.
15:25: It goes to Pastor Jonathan and his wife Linda, reaching Hispanics here in the Green Bay area.
15:32: It goes to Joel and Joanne, serving in the Middle East in Kurdistan, reaching a variety of different ethnic groups located in that area.
15:43: And it can manifest as encouragement.
15:48: We live in a time when we can instantly connect with people all over the world.
15:52: You just pull out that little computer in your pocket and you can share.
15:57: You can ask questions.
15:58: I reached out to Brad just recently.
16:00: I said, hey, I know this was going on and how did this work out and what was decided with this thing?
16:05: And he was like, oh, yeah, thanks for asking and filled me in, right?
16:08: I also got, he's a coffee guy.
16:10: So I shared something I came across, a peanut butter coffee thing.
16:16: And I was like, I don't know what I think about that.
16:17: And I thought, hey, I'm going to share it with him, see what he thinks.
16:20: It's just stupid stuff.
16:22: Sometimes because they're located in Egypt, I'll share a stupid Egypt joke with him so that he knows that it's still me on the other end of the phone.
16:29: You know, that's kind of my calling card, right?
16:32: You know, like if he's got back problems, he should go to somebody that can help him.
16:35: Because, I mean, there's got to be a chiropractor there, right?
16:40: And so you can connect with our IWs instantly.
16:46: Let's encourage them.
16:47: Let's write them notes or emails or Zoom or Skype or whatever works for you.
16:53: And let's let them know they're not forgotten.
16:55: They're loved.
16:55: They're prayed for.
16:56: Write out a prayer that you are praying for them and send it to them.
17:00: That will do wonders to encourage them.
17:02: We can support IWs to the ends of the earth.
17:07: Now, Paul's doing that.
17:10: That's been Paul's life.
17:11: It's been his ministry since coming to Christ.
17:14: But there's something interesting about this letter to the church in Rome.
17:18: And we've got to put it in context.
17:21: Almost every church to which Paul writes is a church that he founded, he planted.
17:27: He went to that place.
17:28: He shared the gospel.
17:29: People came to faith.
17:30: He brought them together and said, okay, we're going to form a church.
17:32: This is how it's done, et cetera.
17:34: But not Rome.
17:37: Paul did not plant the church in Rome.
17:39: He'd never even at this point in his life visited the church in Rome.
17:45: But as we're going to see when we get to chapter 16, he did know a lot of Christians who had, for whatever reason, ended up in Rome and been part of this church.
17:53: Now, as we look at verses 22 to 29 here in a minute, look and listen for all the clues about the kind of relationship Paul had and wanted to have with the church in Rome.
18:05: He writes, This is the reason why I have so often been hindered from coming to you.
18:11: But now, since I no longer have any room for work in these regions, and since I have longed for many years to come to you, I hope to see you in passing as I go to Spain and to be helped on my journey there by you, once I have enjoyed your company for a while.
18:27: At present, however, I am going to Jerusalem, bringing aid to the saints.
18:33: For Macedonia and Achaia have been pleased to make some contribution for the poor among the saints at Jerusalem.
18:40: For they were pleased to do it, and indeed they owe it to them.
18:44: For if the Gentiles have come to share in their spiritual blessings, they are also to be of service to them in material blessings.
18:51: When, therefore, I have completed this and have delivered to them what has been collected, I will leave for Spain by way of you.
18:59: I know that when I come to you, I will come in the fullness of the blessing of Christ.
19:07: That fascinates me.
19:09: He says, this is the reason why I have so often been hindered from coming to you.
19:12: He's like, I've wanted to come visit for years, but I've got this thing that's held me back.
19:17: What is that thing?
19:18: Well, it's what he just talked about in the previous verses.
19:20: He's been about planting churches all the way from Jerusalem to the Greece area.
19:25: That's been his area for ministry.
19:27: And so he's like, I've had to be focused on ministry here, so I haven't been able to come and go visit you there.
19:33: That's why.
19:34: But then he says, but that's changing.
19:39: It's very interesting.
19:40: He says, I need to take it where there's not Christians already spreading the gospel, which means Rome's not his target audience.
19:48: Rome would make a lot of sense, right?
19:50: It's the hub of the Roman Empire.
19:52: It's the crossroads.
19:53: You influence people there.
19:55: You could spread influence all over.
19:57: And Paul says, no, that's not where I need to be doing church planting.
20:01: I'm thinking Rome could have handled two or three Christian churches.
20:04: Paul says, no.
20:05: Why?
20:07: Because Rome already had a gospel presence.
20:13: Rome already had a gospel witness because there was a church there.
20:16: And so Paul's job was to take it elsewhere.
20:20: Similarly, I would not support any missionary group or church or parachurch group sending missionaries to Green Bay.
20:29: I would say we've got Christians in Green Bay that can take the gospel to Green Bay.
20:35: Congratulations.
20:36: Look in the mirror.
20:36: That's you.
20:38: That's me.
20:38: That's me.
20:38: We need to send missionaries to places where there isn't much of any Christian presence.
20:48: Verse 23 is strange.
20:51: He says, since I no longer have any room for work in these regions.
20:58: Literally, that's false, right?
21:00: Literally, there are tons of people in the areas where he's planted churches that have not yet come to Christ.
21:05: There are tons of people that still need to be reached for the gospel.
21:09: But he says, that's not my thing.
21:12: My thing is to bring it where there's no presence.
21:16: There's no gospel witness.
21:18: And there's gospel witness here, so that's off limits to me.
21:21: That's somebody else's job to reach them.
21:23: I've got to go elsewhere.
21:26: Our missionaries that serve elsewhere in the world belong there because you belong here doing the work of ministry in this place in this time.
21:36: What would you think about supporting a ministry who said, I'm going to be a missionary to fill in the blank place, but I'm not going to share the gospel with people.
21:47: I'm just going to live a Christian life and hope they guess.
21:50: You'd be like, you're not the missionary I want to sponsor, right?
21:59: It's kind of the same thing if we live here and refuse to represent Jesus explicitly.
22:05: Let's make sure that we are sharing in word and in lifestyle who Jesus is with the people around us.
22:14: So Paul's run out of room there.
22:17: He's going to travel further away.
22:19: He plans to go to Spain.
22:21: I love that he's got that kind of heart for ministry.
22:25: He's going to go all the way over to Spain.
22:27: Now, we don't know historically if he ever made that trip, if he ever reached Spain.
22:30: No biblical passage gives us an answer to that.
22:33: Church history gives us some indications that he may have, but it's inconclusive.
22:37: We're not sure, but his plan at least was when I go there, that's going to take me by Italy on the way, and I'm going to stop in Rome.
22:45: I'm going to spend some time with them.
22:46: I'm going to get to know them.
22:47: Let them get to know me.
22:49: We're going to encourage each other, and I'm going to look for them to be my missionary support partners as I continue on my way west with the gospel.
22:59: This is a missionary support letter.
23:02: It's like the best missionary support letter ever.
23:05: And he says, I'm coming.
23:07: I'm going to spend time with you, and I hope you're going to help me on my way.
23:11: Missions to Rome.
23:13: And then there's this weird thing.
23:16: I'll tell you.
23:17: I'll tell you it again.
23:18: When you find something weird in the Bible, pay attention.
23:21: The weird stuff is the good stuff.
23:22: Maybe it's just the way I'm wired.
23:24: I think as soon as I see something weird, I'm like, ooh, what's that about?
23:28: I do that at home.
23:29: I do that in Bible reading.
23:31: Verses 25 to 28.
23:33: He's talking about delivering finances from Greece to Jerusalem.
23:39: He's like, I can't come quite yet, Rome.
23:41: I've got to do this first.
23:43: What is that about?
23:45: Most scholars believe that Paul wrote the letter to the Romans while he was in the Greek city of Corinth.
23:50: So he would have been in Greece at this time.
23:54: And he's about to head in the wrong direction.
23:56: If you're in Greece and you want to go to Spain, you head west.
23:59: If you're in Greece and you're going to Jerusalem, you head southeast.
24:02: He's going the wrong direction.
24:06: Way out of his way.
24:07: It's about 1,000 miles from Corinth to Jerusalem.
24:12: Each way.
24:13: This is a 2,000-mile round-trip side quest.
24:20: Why would he do that if he needs to head west?
24:23: Well, literally, it's because he needs to get the money from the givers to the receivers.
24:31: But man, I think you could farm that out, right?
24:34: There would be people from the church in Corinth that were trusted and respected that could do that.
24:39: Why does he have to do it?
24:41: Well, I think there's a number of things that we can piece together from Scripture.
24:45: First of all, caring for the poor is a really important responsibility of the church.
24:50: We see in Acts chapter 15 what's known as the Council of Jerusalem.
24:53: There was Christians saying, just believe in Jesus.
24:56: And there was other ones saying, well, you need to believe in Jesus, but you've got to keep some of the Old Testament rules too.
25:00: Like, you've got to at least get circumcised.
25:02: And Paul was like, no, it's just faith in Jesus, period.
25:06: And so he visited some of the other apostles when they were in Jerusalem, and they sorted it out, and they were like, no, you don't have to do these Old Testament rules, period.
25:15: But they did emphasize some things that needed to remain a high priority, including caring for the poor.
25:22: So Paul is living out this agreed-upon high priority that Christians are to place upon caring for the poor.
25:28: It was also a matter of pursuing unity amongst God's people.
25:34: You see, the giving was done by the folks in Greece.
25:37: Macedonia and Achaia are like the north and south halves of Greece.
25:41: And so those would have been largely Gentile Christians.
25:44: And they're giving to the Christians in Jerusalem, the poor Christians in Jerusalem, which would have been primarily Jewish.
25:51: Jewish.
25:52: So he's got the giving coming from the Gentiles, going to the Jews, and they're coming from different worlds entirely.
25:58: And he's got to make sure that they understand the relationship to one another.
26:03: And he's got to walk a fine line here, lest there be conflict.
26:08: And if something were to go wrong, if there was waylay or embezzlement or whatever, it would cast a serious shadow over his ministry.
26:18: Oh, look, Paul comes and he says all this stuff, but really he's just after your money.
26:21: We gave X amount of dollars and only a little bit of it made it to Jerusalem, right?
26:26: He can't risk that.
26:27: He's got to see it through himself and make sure it all gets where it's going.
26:31: And so he prioritizes this 2,000-mile round-trip side quest to make sure that it gets done and it gets done right.
26:42: Can you picture that?
26:43: 2,000 miles is like Green Bay to Sacramento, California, without a car or a train or an airplane.
26:52: Or if you want to make it a round-trip, it's Green Bay to Oklahoma City and back.
26:57: How many of you are like, yeah, I'll take that trip without machines?
27:01: And it's optional.
27:06: That's Paul here.
27:07: That's how important he saw this.
27:11: Do we prioritize caring for the poor?
27:14: I think we do.
27:15: There's always room for improvement, but we do our giving tree each year at Christmastime.
27:21: We participate in the Help for the Homeless Hygiene Drive.
27:24: Our benevolent fund all year round is administered by our deacons and deaconesses, saying those inside and those outside the church, as they need help, we tend to that.
27:33: And so when you give to the benevolent fund, that's part of how we try to live that out today.
27:38: But I hope it's more than just that.
27:40: It can be through safe families, whether it's watching children or helping to meet a single parent's need or whatever it might manifest in that way.
27:53: Paul takes this sidetrack.
27:56: Finally, look at verses 30 to 33.
27:57: Paul's continuing to expound on the kind of relationship that he's looking to have with the church in Rome.
28:05: He says, It's his prayer requests, right?
28:35: He's sharing prayer requests.
28:36: Just as we do in life groups.
28:37: How can we support each other in prayer?
28:40: And I'm going to get myself in trouble.
28:43: There's a number of times when I'll say to somebody, How can I pray for you?
28:47: And they'll say some version of, Well, I'm good.
28:49: I'm set.
28:49: I've got no prayer requests right now.
28:51: And I always want to say to people when they say that, Knock it off.
28:56: Because I know you need more Jesus in your life.
28:59: Maybe you don't know it, but you need more Jesus in your life.
29:01: You are not all the way where God is taking you to.
29:04: So you've got some prayer needs in your life.
29:06: Either you're trying to be shy about it, and don't be.
29:09: Or you don't see that you've got needs, but you've got needs.
29:12: If you don't think you've got anything that needs praying over, Talk to the people close to you.
29:16: You'll find out that you've got a whole lot of needs.
29:19: I like to tell people that I am the best spiritual thing ever to happen to my wife.
29:26: And you see people hear that, and they're like, I don't think so, right?
29:32: But the reason I say that is because people meet me, And they start praying like the dickens for my wife, right?
29:39: As soon as they meet me, they're like, Oh, we've got to pray for Carrie, right?
29:43: You've got needs.
29:46: You've got needs.
29:47: Let's bring them before the Lord.
29:48: Paul brings three specific needs.
29:52: And he's serious about it.
29:54: He says, he calls them, he appeals to them, By the love of Jesus and the love of the Holy Spirit, To strive together with me in your prayers to God on my behalf.
30:05: That's strive together.
30:07: It's a very strong word.
30:09: It means vigorous, athletic exertion.
30:12: That's not the way we usually pray.
30:14: Usually we pray like, okay, we're going to pray, Close your eyes for a couple moments, and we're done.
30:19: This is agonizing, serious, dedicated, Trying to find the right words, Trying to pour out an intensity of heart.
30:26: This is the kind of prayer, When you mean business, kind of prayer.
30:32: He says, would you do that kind of prayer, With me and for me?
30:40: What are the three things?
30:41: Verse 31.
30:44: That I may be delivered from the unbelievers, In Judea.
30:48: That's the area around Jerusalem.
30:49: He says, I'm going to this place, Where there are non-Christians, Who don't like me.
30:54: Specifically, it would have been mostly Jewish people, Who don't like him, Because he's following Jesus.
30:59: He's like, they're going to make my life hard.
31:02: They might even try to kill me.
31:03: Pray for me to survive that.
31:06: He's saying basically, Pray for my protection.
31:10: This is a prayer for protection.
31:11: Second request, That my service for Jerusalem, May be acceptable to the saints.
31:19: Now in context, he's saying, That me delivering this money, Will be acceptable to the Christians.
31:26: Or which Christians?
31:27: I think he has in mind, Both the giving Christians, And the receiving Christians.
31:32: If we go back to verse 27, He talks about the Christians, Who gave in Greece.
31:38: And he says, They were pleased to do it.
31:41: And indeed, they owe it to them.
31:45: It's an interesting combo.
31:47: They wanted to do it, And they were obligated to do it.
31:50: The danger, Is that the giving Christians might think, Oh, I have no obligation to give.
31:57: He's like, No, they need to understand they have an obligation.
32:00: And there's the danger that the receiving, Poor, poverty stricken Christians in Jerusalem, Might say, Well, they only do it because they have to.
32:06: They don't actually care about me.
32:08: And he's like, No, they need to understand that The folks in Greece really wanted to.
32:12: They were pleased.
32:13: They were happy to do it.
32:14: So there's the pleasure in rightly living, And in giving.
32:18: And there's the obligation as well.
32:21: And he's got to walk that razor's edge Between either or, And he needs to say, No, it's both and.
32:29: He wants both the giving and receiving Christians To be on board with how this is playing out.
32:34: He wants there to be unity Between the Gentile giving Christians And the Jewish receiving Christians.
32:41: He's like, I want this to play out in such a way That unity is preserved.
32:47: This is about unity amongst God's people.
32:49: The third request Is that he's going to get to Rome.
32:52: He's like, Pray that I can get there And spend some time with you And that this would be a real blessing For you and for me.
32:58: I love that.
32:59: If you go back to chapter one, Paul was talking there About how he wanted to come Preach the gospel to them in Rome.
33:06: Now, If we misunderstand the gospel, That's offensive.
33:11: If we think that the good news of Jesus Is for non-Christians And only for non-Christians, Then he just wrote to a church and said, I want to get you fake Christians saved.
33:21: That's not what he's saying.
33:23: Because the gospel Is just as much for already Christians As it is for non-Christians.
33:30: And so what he's saying is, I know that you Christians in Rome Have already heard the gospel Or you wouldn't be Christians.
33:37: But I want to come Help you understand The continued need That you have for the gospel.
33:42: And the continued impact The gospel needs to have on your life.
33:47: And I would say That's part of what my aim is here In Green Bay.
33:50: I assume that most of you Are Christians.
33:54: But that still means You need the gospel.
33:56: You need to continue To surrender yourself To what God wants to do in your life In response to who Jesus is And what he's done.
34:05: That means you need to continue To become less and less self-reliant.
34:10: Some of you are a little heavy On the self-reliant end of the spectrum, right?
34:15: I see somebody laughing And kind of giggling as I say that.
34:18: And she knows who she is.
34:21: Right?
34:21: If you listen, you can hear her.
34:24: Oh, there's several of them.
34:27: We need to continue To discover That Jesus has paid it all.
34:32: That we don't need to prove Anything to anyone.
34:35: We need to simply rely on him And experience his goodness toward us.
34:39: And his provision.
34:41: And finally, Paul wraps it up Talking about the God of peace.
34:45: May the God of peace be with you all.
34:46: Paul did make it to Rome.
34:52: We don't know if he made it onward To Spain or not, but he made it to Rome.
34:55: But not the way he thought He was going to get there.
34:58: He got there while incarcerated.
35:01: He got locked up In jail for an extended time And had to appeal to Caesar To avoid being in a situation Where he'd be assassinated.
35:08: He appeals And ends up Transformed as a prisoner of Rome And spent multiple years Incarcerated in Rome.
35:16: That's how it ended up Planning out.
35:18: That's not what he had planned.
35:20: It's not what he was hoping for.
35:22: And yet, it was used by God In amazing ways.
35:26: Sometimes God's going to do good work In ways that Not your first choice.
35:33: Right?
35:33: But you can have peace In the midst of that.
35:38: You can have peace In the midst of a situation That is not of your choosing And not of your preference.
35:44: God's peace Is needed In particular And especially when things Are not the way We want them to be.
35:51: Amen?
35:52: We are right now As a church Wrestling through Matters of What kind of relationship We have And are going to have With our denomination And what the future looks like In those regards.
36:02: And I'll tell you Since the time That we got the answer Of how the district Is going to handle things I've had more peace Than the two years before that.
36:11: I just have a sense of Contentment That God knows what he's doing And God's going to Take care of things And provide as needed.
36:19: Now you ask me the details I'll be like I don't know.
36:22: Ask me another question I don't know.
36:24: But I know who does know And he's got things in hand.
36:27: We can have peace If we walk with God Without having all the answers Figured out.
36:33: I don't know What the rest of my marriage Is going to look like.
36:36: But I know who it's going To be spent with.
36:40: She's not going to Give up on me.
36:42: I can tell As many dad jokes As I want.
36:48: Many more than she wants.
36:50: She's not going anywhere.
36:53: And she knows I'm not going anywhere either.
36:54: We can have peace Regardless of our circumstances.
37:00: When God is the center Of our lives.
37:03: Amen.
37:07: My brothers and sisters We have to be about missions.
37:10: We have to be about missions here And there.
37:14: Doing And enabling.
37:16: We have to be about Living out faithfully Our calling In relationship with one another.
37:26: We say here that our purpose Is to worship God By enjoying Relationship with him.
37:32: That's where the peace Is going to come from.
37:35: And with one another.
37:37: We need to have Relationship with fellow Christians.
37:41: Relationship with one another Through Jesus Christ.
37:43: My relationship with you Is not based on Your church attendance.
37:49: Or your giving.
37:50: Or your cultural preferences.
37:52: Or your interest in music.
37:54: Or your like Or in some cases Dislike of dad jokes.
37:57: My relationship with you Is centered in Jesus Christ.
38:01: You are my brother Or my sister If your faith is in Jesus.
38:05: And that's what counts Above all the other things.
38:08: Let's pray.
38:09: God help us.
38:11: By making our lives More and more defined By Jesus.
38:17: May the good news of Jesus Control our finances.
38:22: Our prayer lives.
38:24: Our relationships.
38:26: The risks that we take In sharing the gospel.
38:30: May the gospel Make us bold And courageous And loving In sharing with others.
38:37: Willing to accept the hits In instances where people Don't want to hear it.
38:41: But celebrating the opportunity To do it.
38:44: Loving people enough To share.
38:46: And getting to experience Times when you Transform lives So that eternity Is different For that friend That neighbor That co-worker That fellow student.
38:56: Eternity is different Eternity is different Because you were at work Through us.
39:01: Not for our bragging rights We have none But to brag solely On what you do Through us Even as you did Through Paul.
39:08: We pray these things In Jesus name.
39:11: Amen.