BELONGING Relationally and Functionally Involved Attend • Connect • Give • Serve OFFERINGS Worship and Stewardship Online • In Person • EFT PRAYER Staff • Elders • Prayer Team DAugustr. Miche 21-22, 2021le Knight Paul’s Ministry (15:16-22) 1. Paul’s ministry was a priestly ministry (16-17). 2. Paul’s ministry was a powerful ministry (18-19a). 3. Paul’s ministry was a pioneer ministry (19b-22). Paul’s Plans (15:23-24) 1. Paul plans to visit Rome (23-24). 2. Paul plans to visit Jerusalem (25-27). 3. Paul plans to visit Spain (28-29). 4. Paul requests prayer for his visits (30–32). John Stott Paul as Partner Praying for One Another Romans 15:30-33 Paul as Partner I urge you, brothers and sisters, by our Lord Jesus Christ and by the love of the Spirit, to join me in my struggle by praying to God for me. Pray that I may be kept safe from the unbelievers in Judea and that the contribution I take to Jerusalem may be favorably received by the Lord’s people there, so that I may come to you with joy, by God’s will, and in your company be refreshed. Romans 15:30-33 The purpose of prayer is emphatically not to bend God's will to ours, but rather to align our will to his. The promise that our prayers will be answered is conditioned on our asking “according to his will.” Consequently, every prayer we pray should be a variation on the theme, your will be done. John Stott Lessons on Prayer Prayer aligns us with God not the other way around. God seldom answers as we expect. Often we have no idea if God intervened. God knows the best answer, not us. Paul as Partner I urge you, brothers and sisters, by our Lord Jesus Christ and by the love of the Spirit, to join me in my struggle by praying to God for me. Pray that I may be kept safe from the unbelievers in Judea and that the contribution I take to Jerusalem may be favorably received by the Lord’s people there, so that I may come to you with joy, by God’s will, and in your company be refreshed. Romans 15:30-33 The struggle involved in prayer lies in the process of coming to discern God’s will then desiring it above everything else. John Stott Resources "PRINCIPLES FROM THE TEXT" (Romans 15:14-33) "FALSE TEACHERS THEN AND NOW" "THE BODY OF CHRIST " "THE ABCs OF AUTHENTIC AFFECTION" Douglas Moo (Romans 16:17-20) (Romans 16:1-16) (Romans 16:1-16) Douglas Moo (Chuck Swindoll) (Chuck Swindoll) What principles can we isolate from Paul's travel plans in 15:14-33 that are significant for the church today? I think three principles emerge clearly, and one other more tangentially. As I reflect on these verses—which are too easily dismissed as we near the end of Paul's The truth of Christianity is, of course, formally opposed by adherents of other religions, Successful Ministry. One clear principle is this: Successful ministry is always God's doing. Paul implicitly letter—I find several truths concerning the body of Christ illustrated. Paul and his companions in Rome didn't share a lukewarm love. The hardships and philosophies, and worldviews. Buddhists, Muslims, animists, Marxists, atheists, and so forth gives himself a significant role in salvation history as he describes his ministry in verses 16-22. Yet he gives all The body of Christ has variety within its unity. Paul's close associates included singles, victories of ministry had bound their hearts together in a deep, abiding affection that neither propagate worldviews that are explicitly set in contrast to Christianity. The battle lines are drawn, the credit for his ministry to the Lord, to "the grace God gave me." His role as apostle to the Gentiles is not married couples, widows, and widowers. He greeted men and women, slaves and social elites, time nor distance could diminish. He hoped this same kind of affection would bind the and we understand the need to oppose these worldviews with a vigorous and reasoned defense one he has earned through hard study or by virtue of intrinsic talent. God chose him, prepared him, gave him new Christians and mature believers, Greeks, Romans, and Jews. He had met some in prisons, believers in Rome into an indivisible, tight-knit community. As a matter of fact, he would want of our own. the ministry, and empowers it. All is of grace. The Gentile converts he offers as a sacrifice to God are many in synagogues, several in market places, a few in churches. yet all of them in the the same for us today. But Christians must also deal with false teachers—people within the church who claim to be acceptable only because they are "sanctified by the Holy Sprit" (v.16). What Paul does is no more than what course of proclaiming Christ. They came from all over the empire, from multiple backgrounds As I review the list of twenty-seven persons greeted or commended and then reflect on Christians but who deviate in some way from an essential truth of the gospel. False teachers have "Christ has accomplished through me" (v.18), as the "power of the Spirit" enabled both his deeds and his and traditions, but they all shared one thing in common: salvation by grace alone through faith Paul's personal connection with each individual, I find that he had diligently applied the words (v. 19). always plagued the church, and they are not going away. What Paul says in verses 17-19 may help alone in Jesus Christ alone. lessons he taught in 12:1-15:13. To help make these lessons easier to remember—and "Successful ministers are prone to pride, one of the most basic of all sins. It is frighteningly easy to fall into us spot these false teachers and deal with them once we have identified them. The body of Christ is held together by those who serve in obscurity. Phoebe was a unifying therefore apply—I have reduced them to four simple commands. Think of them as the ABCs of a mode in which we begin taking credit for whatever positive spiritual impact we are having. The people with Paul's message about the false teachers reiterates what is said almost everywhere in the New force in the church near Corinth and someone the Lord called upon to carry this monumentally love within the body of Christ. whom we minister will often be the innocent inducers to this pride. In an effort to be supportive and Testament on such people. What we have is a stock profile of typical false teachers. In addition to important letter to Rome. Yet we know nothing more about her. Mary, Urbanus, Tryphaena and A—Accept one another. Accept variety. Not only did God create people with diverse encouraging, they will often flatter us about the sermon preached, book written, or life changed. Our dutiful errors in doctrine, Paul says three things about them: (1 ) They serve themselves rather than Christ; Tryphosa (twins, perhaps?), and Persis were noted for their faithful labors. Nothing more is appearances, He gave us a broad range of opinions, values, interests, gifts, and abilities. Some response, "Glory to God, it was his doing," can become both formulaic and insincere. (2) they are crafty and effective speakers, and (3) they create divisions in the church. Paul, in other known of them, neither from Scripture nor any reliable historical documents. Priscilla and think, eat, breathe, and dream missions. Many pursue opportunities to teach. Others cannot God, of course, has his own ways of humbling our pride. For every parishioner who flatters us, God sends words, describes the motives, the means, and the results of their ministry. two others to ask, after we preach, "Was you week particularly busy?" Or "Did you lose your watch?" Yet the Aquila served with Paul in Corinth, stabilized the church in Ephesus, and undoubtedly did the imagine devoting themselves to anyone other than special-needs children. Still others are False teachers often go wrong at the level of motivation. Instead of focusing on the glory of Care natural inclination for many of us is to listen to the flatterers far too much. Moreover, pride is not only wrong in same in Rome. Yet, again, we know nothing of them beyond these brief acknowledgments in wonderful conduits of music. We need them all. God and the good of the church, they become preoccupied with themselves. Pride is often their itself, it can lead to so many other sins. I am positive that many prominent ministers fall into sexual sin Scripture. The twenty-seven names in this list represent countless others who quietly and Moreover, we are a community of Christians at varying stages of growth and growing at root sin. More status, prestige, and publicity come to people who teach new or strange things precisely because they begin to think that they are immune to such ordinary temptations or, worse yet, they profoundly enrich the body of Christ. different rates. We have brand-new Christians who still cuss (and some older Christians who begin unconsciously thinking they are above the law. than to those who plod along, following the lines of truth laid down in Scripture and in the history Community cuss and try to hide it). We have people who've been in the church all their lives and many of the church. Time magazine does not run articles on orthodox theologians.