Romans 15

We're going to have you turn over to the Book of Romans, Chapter 15. We are going to finish the Book of Romans today. In preparing for the sermon today, I did use the preacher's outline in sermon Bible commentary, and I also used the life application commentary, two very fine commentaries. I may mention, I believe, last Sabbath that about a year and a half or two years ago, and we've been that long in the Book of Romans, I gave a sermon that used a great deal of Chapter 16.

So I will not be going into Chapter 16 at all today. We will be in Chapter 15. We're done with Chapter 15. We'll be done with the Book of Romans. Starting next month, we will be going through the Book of Deuteronomy. It's a large book. It's going to take us a while to get through that, probably a couple years plus.

We're not going to skip around here and there and do a survey. We're actually going to go verse by verse and go through the entire book and just take our time and learn a great deal. The Book of Deuteronomy is the most quoted Old Testament book in the New Testament. It is a tremendous book. It has a lot of meat there for us. Now, in terms of Romans, we've looked at the purpose of Romans and times gone by, the purpose Paul had for writing this letter was to present a complete and a detailed statement of the Gospel message.

He wanted the people in Rome to understand exactly what the Gospel message was all about in detail. So he wrote this book. The theme of the Book of Romans is found in Chapter 1, verses 16 and 17, where it talks about, the Gospel is the power of God unto salvation. The Romans were familiar with power, and Paul wanted to discuss with them another kind of power, the kind of power that dwarfed the Roman Empire's power, the power of God. The first portion of Chapter 15 is a very important set of Scriptures that hopefully you will pay close attention to.

Romans, Chapter 15, verses 1 through 13, show what the marks are of a strong church. We want the Detroit church, we want the Ann Arbor church, we want all of our local congregations, we want the United Church of God to be a strong organization, we want this local church here in Detroit to be a strong church. You want to be a strong member. What are the marks of being a strong member in a church? What are the marks of a strong church? Paul goes through that in these first 13 verses. Let me outline that for you right now.

We're going to outline it and then we're going to take our time and go through it. But I want to give you a peek as to what we'll be looking at. Mark number 1, and we find this in verses 1 through 3, In a strong church, the strong bear the weaknesses of the weak. And I put it to you as I put it to myself.

Are you bearing the weaknesses of the weak? Mark number 2, which is found in verse 4, 15th chapter. A strong church studies the Bible. A strong church studies the Word of God. Mark number 3, found in verses 5 and 6.

A strong church works toward harmony and unity. Harmony and unity. Mark number 4 of the 5 that we have in these verse 13 verses. Mark number 4 of a strong church is that a strong church accepts one another. A strong church is accepting of one another. Does not, now just before we move on, does not condone sin. Don't misunderstand what we're talking about accepting. A strong church accepts one another. Jesus Christ accepts us. We know that we have plenty of sin. In the last Mark that Paul talks about, and there's other things in the rest of the chapter, but it's intensified here in these verse 13 verses.

Mark number 5 of a strong church is found in verse 13. And the mark of a strong church is a church filled with hope.

Church is filled with hope. Church is forward-looking. Church is not stuck in a rut. Church is not always looking over its shoulder. So let's get into this. Let's look at the very first mark of a strong church. We see this in verses 1 through 3. The mark of a strong church is the weaknesses of the week. Or another way of looking at this is in a strong church, it's a place of refuge. It's a place of refuge. It's a place where people find help. Do you find that when you come to the Detroit Church, you find help here? Not only from your pastor, but from those around you. Do you find that you give help to those around you? Let's be really introspective here today. I want you to think about as I thought of my own life as the pastor, as a Christian, you know, how am I doing? But I want you to think how you're doing. You know, we don't want to just show up for church. Come in, sit down, listen at the Amen Leave. We want to leave a mark here. We want to make sure that if we were to move away to another area, people would notice our absence. It would be felt. Okay, that ended and said. Let's take a look at these first three verses of chapter 15 of Romans. Romans 15 verse 1. We then, who are strong, ought to bear with the scruples of the weak, and not to please ourselves. I want to take this verse apart because there's a lot of meat here. We then, who are strong, ought to bear. The word ought there is in the present tense. Paul saying that we as strong believers always have an obligation, always have a responsibility to our brothers and sisters in the faith. This is an ongoing thing. It's not just when we feel like it, when we're motivated, when we're inspired to give or to help or serve. This is something we should be doing all the time. It's an ongoing thing for each and every one of us. Put a marker here. We're going to be coming back, obviously, to chapter 15. But put a marker here. Let's go over to Galatians chapter 6 for a moment because this concept is articulated here in Galatians chapter 6 and verse 1. Galatians 6, 1, Brethren, if a man is overtaken or if he is caught in any trespass, you who are spiritual restore such a one in the spirit of gentleness, considering yourself lest you also be tempted. You who are spiritual. Now, who's that taught? Is that just talking about the pastor? Is that just talking about elders and deacons? No, it's talking about all of us who have the Spirit of God. It's talking about each and every one of us in this room. We all are spiritual. Now, we might, every one of us in the room, might want to be more spiritual than we are, but we're all spiritual. You who are spiritual restore, and notice the terminology, restore such a one in the spirit of gentleness. There will be times when you will go to a brother or sister who is in a, they are weak in some area, and perhaps you're strong in that area, and you can help them. But notice what it says here. It says, consider yourself lest you also be tempted. Because you see, brethren, in the area, you may be strong in helping somebody who's weaker, but the next week, the person you helped last week, well, maybe in the coming week, one of your weaknesses hits the fan. And that person who is strong where you are weak, they come to you and help you at that point. We all have our strengths, and we all have our weaknesses. And so that should, that should act as a humbling agent to each and every one of us.

Verse 2 of Galatians 6, bear one another's burdens, and so fulfill a law of Christ.

We are to bear the burdens of one another. Now, when it says bear burdens, it doesn't mean put up with. It means something altogether different. As a matter of fact, if we go back to Romans 15, Romans 15 and verse 1, notice what it says here. It says something about bearing here, too.

Romans 15 and verse 1, we then who are strong ought to bear with the scruples.

In my margin, there's a little one next to the word scruples. It takes me to the center reference, which says weaknesses. We then who are strong ought to bear with the weaknesses of the weak and not to please ourselves. The idea here of the word bear, again, doesn't mean putting up with somebody. The idea is support. We are to support our brothers and sisters. The idea is the word picture here is that we would carry our brothers and sisters as we would pick up a little child who has need of help. We would pick them up. We would be careful with them. We would be tender with them. We would be loving with them, and we would bear them up. We would be tender. We would be understanding. And that's what a strong Christian is. A strong Christian is not a bit bigger. A strong Christian doesn't come to church looking for ways to cut you down, blindside you, give you a broadside, or anything of the nature. A strong Christian is there to be a help. And that is to be an ongoing situation in the Christian's life who is a strong Christian. And if we want the Detroit church to be strong, then when we walk in these doors, if we all have this attitude, well, we will hit the mark. Verse 2 of Romans chapter 15. Let each of us please his neighbor for his good, leading to edification. So here we see where the church, a strong church and strong members are there to build one another up. We're here to encourage one another to be there for one another. How many times in the past have I asked the question, who's feeling depressed today? Who's feeling discouraged? Who needs encouragement? Remember the days when, for those of you who were attending the Detroit East Church, I remember so many times Ed Meyers would come to services. He says, I've got three sermons today. One of them deals with encouragement.

One of them deals with encouragement. One of them deals with prophecy. One deals with history. Who wants the encouraging one? Oh yeah, you know, 300 hands would go up.

I think every time Ed Meyers asked that question, he got the same result.

Because we as human beings, we need the encouragement.

Church should be an oasis. Are you doing something to make this church an oasis?

What are you specifically doing? I mean, I have to ask myself as the pastor, myself, what I'm doing. But today I want to ask you, what are you doing?

What talents and abilities and strengths do you bring to the table? What are you doing to do what it says here? To build up your brothers and sisters in the faith?

It's a question we each need to ask and answer.

Chapter 15, verse 3, For even Christ did not please himself, but as it is written, the reproaches of those who reproach you fell on me.

Now, as Wayne brought out in the sermonette today, Christ is the ultimate example of how we should serve. A strong church is Christ-centered.

If we want to be strong members, we have to be strong Christ-centered.

The Detroit church will never be Christ-centered if we aren't individually Christ-centered.

It's interesting here in verse 3 at the end of verse 3, Paul quotes Psalm 69.

Psalm 69 is a Messianic psalm, talking about the prophesied Messiah coming to the world, to save the world, to love the world. And we are Christ-ones. We are Christians. We are to follow that example. So the first mark that we see here in verses 1 through 3, the first mark of a strong church and strong Christians are that strong Christians bear with the weaknesses of the weak. Mark number 2. A strong church studies the Bible, studies the word of God. They can't get enough of study. The strong church is a place that's filled with the word of God.

People are studying their Bibles. They're discussing their Bibles. They're getting CDs from the sermonettes and the sermons. They're going online if they have that capability. They're listening, as Wayne was talking about earlier, they go and listen to other sermons by other people. They get other viewpoints. They keep their nose buried in the book.

Romans 15 verse 4, For whatever things were written before, written for our learning, that we through the patience and comfort of the Scriptures might have hope.

If we are fighting depression, being despondent, being negative, if we're beating ourselves up all the time, are we really reading the whole word of God? Are we getting the whole counsel of God?

Yeah, the Bible has some dealings with correction. That's true. But there's an awful lot of the Bible that is there for encouragement. It says here, And through the comfort of the Scriptures might have hope. God's word gives us hope. The more we know about what God has done in years past, that's going to affect, as we understand it, how we view our present. That's going to view how we view our future. So we get into the word of God and we study how he's dealt with people, because God is no respecter of persons. And how he's dealt with people in the past, how he's going to deal with people in the present and in the future.

You know, with the death of Ben Lobb, you and I witnessed something. I didn't know what quite to make of it. You know, in Washington, D.C., and at Ground Zero, you saw people hitting the streets celebrating. Not something I would do, but as I was watching D.C. and watching there in Ground Zero, all these people in the streets, you know, Rah Rah, USA, USA, and all that sort of thing. And I began to notice something. I noticed that for the most part, not in all cases, but for the most part, they were kids. They were older teenagers. They were people in their 20s.

And as I was musing on that, I was listening to a commentator, and the commentator said something, I just want to give you the benefit of this person's thought. You can take it or leave it for whatever you think. But the commentator to me made some sense. The commentator said, you know, when you think about these teenagers and these people in their early 20s, they were, you know, young kids when those Twin Towers went down. And they have lived their lives with the idea, and they've heard that they're going to be the first generation in American history who has it worse than their parents. Now, you know, many of us grew up in the Cold War era.

I guess we can say, well, hey, we grew up in the shadow of the bomb. But, you know, to me, that was kind of academic. No one had come to our country and taken out the towers.

You know, people weren't murdering one another in the streets in the sake of jihad and things like that. So these young people being told, well, America's best days are behind us. You won't have the same standard of living as your parents. The commentator said, you know, I think that these kids finally thought maybe they've got a ray of hope here, that maybe their future won't be as bad as everyone was telling them it was going to be. I thought that made a lot of sense.

I thought that made a lot of sense. Now, you and I, we can look into the Scriptures and know what today and tomorrow prophetically will bring. We understand about the Kingdom of God. So our studying the Word of God gives us a great deal of encouragement. And if we're always fighting with discouragement, maybe we're not studying what we should or maybe we're not studying the right things. When the Bible says here that the Bible gives us comfort, how does that happen?

Let me again put a marker here. Let's take a look at how the Bible comforts us. Over here in Psalm 46.

Psalm 46.

And verse 1. Psalm 46 and verse 1. God is our refuge and strength, a very present help and trouble.

He's not way off someplace. God is a very present help, a very present help, an abundantly, an abundant help, as the margin says, a very present help and trouble.

We can be comforted from the Scriptures because we have our God who is our refuge. He is our strength. We don't have to worry about our own strength, our own shoulders, our own ingenuity.

Verse 2. Therefore we will not fear, even though the earth be moved, and though the mountains be carried into the midst of the sea.

We talked last week about the hands of God, how powerful His hands are.

We say we're going to put it in God's hands. Some people say, well, that's the end of that.

You know, it's in God's hands now. You know, they write you off when they say that.

Now, I tell you what, we want to be in the hands of God because His hands are powerful hands. You know, we go there for refuge. We go there for strength. He is a present help in any trouble.

And as we study the Word of God, we come to see that.

Over, going back to the book of Romans, Romans chapter 5. I don't normally turn to this section to describe what I'm about to describe to you, but you know, in the book of Romans here, we see another reason why the Scriptures give us encouragement. The Scriptures give us encouragement because it shows, at the end of all things, we win. Mr. Armstrong said that over and over. We have hope as we look into the future. We don't think we're all going to blow up. You know, remember the song years ago, in the year 2525? I'm sure Al probably can sing the song. He probably can write down all the lyrics for us. Al's got a great mind for that kind of thing. But here in Romans chapter 5, therefore, having been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ.

So many times we have issues where we're unsettled and discouraged and depressed. We don't have peace. But if we look to the Word of God, we realize we've been justified by faith.

Faith and the sacrifice of Jesus Christ, whereby our sins have been forgiven us.

Our names have been written in the Lamb's Book of Life. We have a lease on eternal life.

Verse 2, Romans 5, 2, Through Him also we have access by faith into this grace.

You have accepted the sacrifice of Jesus Christ. You have access into the very throne of God.

If we need encouragement, I would encourage you to go to what's Revelation chapter 4? I didn't look it up. I think it's chapter 4, which shows the throne room of God. A place of power and majesty and beauty. Now, you and I can't get into the Oval Office. I don't care who the president is. You and I can't get in there. They're too busy. But anytime we want to get into the throne room of God, we're only a prayer away.

And notice here in verse 2, it says, Through whom we all have access by faith into this grace, in which we stand.

I don't know how long it's been since we were first going through chapter 5 of Romans, probably over a year ago. But as I was preparing for the particular time we were going to go through this chapter, for the first time that phrase really stood out in my mind.

That we stand by the grace of God. Everything we do is because of the grace of God.

Now, that doesn't give us hope and encouragement. But that God is a present help in times of trouble. We stand in His grace. And it says there, And we rejoice in the hope of the glory of God.

As I may mention, on the Holy Day up in Lansing, here we have a fella in his early 80s in Ann Arbor Church.

Last day of Unleavened Bread. 10 o'clock. He's doing dialysis.

Finishes his dialysis at 10 o'clock. He's in services at 11. He's in his early 80s. That's him zeal. He knows what he's looking forward to. I was talking to him just today.

And he said, Boy, I get so tired, but I just want to be in church.

Remember years ago when I was working with a church in Ohio, we had a man who was, he was not a part of the church, his wife was, he would drive her 45 minutes to get the church.

And he would sit in his Dodge Ram and do dialysis with a portable machine so she can get the church.

Toward the very end, he wanted to counsel for baptism. I was counseling him for baptism. We were set to baptize him. I think it was on a Sunday. He died on Saturday. But God knew where he was. God knew his heart. You know, there's people who have hope, who are facing awful situations. Tremendous hope in the glory of God. Some of these people that I've pastored, I will never, ever forget. Never forget. Let's move on in the book of Romans. We'll back to Romans chapter 15. Romans chapter 15, we want to take a look at the third mark of a strong church, strong members in the church, and that is a desire to work toward harmony and unity.

We see that in verses 5 and 6 of Romans 15, a desire to work toward harmony and unity. Romans chapter 15 verse 5, Now may the God of patience and comfort, and notice how many times the word comfort is used here. May the God of patience and comfort grant you to be like-minded toward one another according to Christ Jesus, that you may with one mind and one mouth glorify the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. Isn't it interesting the way that's phrased? It's phrased exactly the way God inspired it to be phrased. May the God of patience and comfort grant you to be like-minded toward one another as Christ was. Jesus Christ knew our sins, our faults, our failings, our weaknesses. He came and He died for us anyway. And we are to treat one another the same way. We are to be patient with one another because we have a God who is patient, and He can give us patience. We have a God who is a God of comfort, and we can be coming here to comfort one another according to Christ Jesus.

Now, I would say to this group what I said earlier today in Ann Arbor, and that is, I salute you.

You know, over the course of the last year or so, we had a lot of upset in the church.

We had some church that were just ravaged. Dave understands that. Dave and Ruth, down there in Florida, where they attend, you know, they had a church that was very hard hit. But, you know, here in Ann Arbor and Detroit, we've not lost a single person. And that's to your credit.

That's to your credit because you value harmony and unity. It's to your credit because you've shown a great deal of maturity in a very difficult situation. And I certainly recognize that, and I thank you for that. I know that God is very well pleased with that. So let's continue to do that.

In our personal, and I've heard a number of people say in the two-church area that we don't find people back-biting as much. We don't find people nitpicking as much. You know, people are always going to be people. There's always going to be people issues. But after what we've gone through, I think people say, you know what, it's not worth getting into some of these things that are meaningful. There is, you know, yeah, this person irritates me, but I probably irritate that person. We can live with it. We can live with that. We can be patient with it.

Moving on. This next area is a large area. The fourth mark of a strong church, a strong Christian. We find this in verses 7 through 12.

And that is, the people are accepting of one another.

Again, we're not condoning sin. We're not condoning improper or bad behavior.

But we realize that the church is a hospital for sick people spiritually.

And we're all sick. And we all have needs.

Romans chapter 15 verse 7.

Therefore receive one another just as Christ also received us to the glory of God. Again, over and over, he's making this point that we need to be receiving one another as Christ received us. With all of our faults and failings, Christ realized, okay, they've got their faults and failings. They're not going to want to stay there forever. And you know, brethren, whoever has gotten on your last nerve, let's say here in the church, they don't want to stay where they're at forever. Let's say they understand that they've got weaknesses and they've got on your last nerve. And I wish they hadn't. I'm sure they are working on that. They don't want to stay there perpetually. Just like, you know, you see weaknesses in your life. You know where you've cut people off, or you've hurt people, or you've not said something properly. And you've hated yourself for it. Okay? Christ is patient with us. We need to be patient with one another. Verse 8 and 9. Now, I say that Christ Jesus has become a servant to the circumcision for the truth of God, to confirm the promises made to the fathers. So, talking about acceptance, here we've got an example in verse 8 talking about the people of God, the Israelites, and more particularly, the Jewish nation, where by what Christ is coming and doing, he's fulfilling prophecy.

He's fulfilling prophecy. He's showing that what God said is true and fulfilling promises. But God is not a god just to the Jewish people or the Israelites people. Look at verse 9. And I'm glad for that because I'm half-Gentile. Verse 9. And that the Gentiles might glorify God for His mercy, as it is written for you, this reason I will confess to you among the Gentiles and sing your name. So, whether we be Jew or Gentile, we see here where God is there to bring everybody into the same fold, to graft everybody in, to show that He honors His promises and commitments, and that He is a merciful God.

And then going on in verses 10, 11, and 12, to offer final proof, what does Paul do? We see at the end of verse 9 a quotation from the Old Testament. Second Samuel. In verse 10 we see a quotation. In verse 11 we see a quotation. In verse 12 we see a quotation. What are we seeing that is being quoted here? Paul quotes four Old Testament passages. Certainly nothing wrong with the Old Testament. Paul certainly quotes it enough. Quoting Old Testament passages taken from the three major divisions of the Old Testament.

The law, the prophets, and the writings. All having to do with the Gentile people. All three of these sections are something that the Gentile world can give God great thanks. And God wants to make sure that, you know, everyone knows that God has His people, the Israelites, but God also wants the Gentiles to realize, I love you. I don't love you any less. Verse 10. And again He says, rejoice, O Gentiles, with His people. You're going to be blessed just the same as the others. Verse 10 is a quotation from Deuteronomy 32. Verse 43. Showing a quotation from the law of God.

Verse 5 books of the Old Testament. Verse 11. And again, praise the Lord, all you Gentiles, laud Him all you peoples. Verse 11 is a quotation from Psalm 117. Verse 1. The Psalms are a part of the Bible that are, well, sometimes they're called the Psalms, that's the third section. Sometimes they're called the writings. Sometimes they're called the royal letters. Because that section of the Bible is written from royalty or to royalty. It's a very beautiful section of the Bible. Verse 12. And again, Isaiah, now here we got one of the prophets. And again, Isaiah says, there shall be a root of Jesse, and he shall rise to reign over the Gentiles.

And him the Gentiles shall hope. So here you've got a quotation from Isaiah 11. Verse 10. The law, the writings, and the prophets. In other words, throughout the course of the Old Testament, the Holy Scriptures of God, the Apostle Paul wants the Gentiles to realize God loves you. You're His people. Jesus Christ came to die for you. And there's tremendous acceptance for you.

Tremendous acceptance. And we need to be accepting of one another. The last area here, in terms of the intensified discussion, there'll be more as we go through the rest of the chapter. But here in verse 13, you see the fifth mark of a strong church. And that is that the people of God are filled with the hope of God. The people of God are filled with the hope of God. Verse 13. Now may the God of hope, the God of hope, fill you with all joy and peace in believing that you may abound in hope by the power of the Holy Spirit.

I know, you know, this Passover season, Days of Unleavened Bread, knowing what we had gone through this last year, and knowing some of the tremendous trials that we have facing us in Ann Arbor and Detroit. We've got some members who are facing cancer, a number of them. We've got other issues, economic issues, we've got interpersonal issues, we've got all sorts of issues that we're facing. And so going into this year's Passover and Days of Unleavened Bread, I wanted to be as positive as possible. And that's why I said before the Days of Unleavened Bread, I said, okay, let's, you know, people are going through all sorts of difficulty.

Let's be uplifting this year. Now, Jesus Christ feels the same way. Jesus Christ, as He was on the cross, it says, for the joy that was set before Him endured the suffering. I had somebody who used to attend this church here say, how can you say that? He was being tortured. He was, you know, horribly abused and unrecognizable. You say, well, the Bible says that. Now, if you're thinking, joy is, yeah, He's cracking jokes and laughing and gefal, I know.

But joy is a frame of reference. It's a piece of your mind. Jesus Christ had joy because He realized that every one of us in this room would have access to eternal life. And that gave Him joy in the midst of that trial. God didn't take the trial away from Him. He had to go, it's like Israel, they had to go through that Red Sea. Looks like they had a closed door, but they're going through that Red Sea.

You and I have to go through our trials and they may be, you know, they won't be as severe as what Christ went through. But to us, they're excruciating. And we've got to go through those, but we can go through those just like Christ did with a joy. What does it mean? It means we understand the final analysis. We anticipate what God has in store for us. We won't always be suffering. We won't always be going through trials. We are going to be in the kingdom of God. We are going to have a new body. Boy, aren't we all glad for that?

Mary says to me sometimes, why do you grunt so much? She says, because I've got to lug this body around so much.

I'm looking for today exchanges for a new model. I need a new model. I talk about body here. And it says here in verse 13, now may the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace. Peace because we can rest in assurance that God is going to do what He's promised He's going to do. He's a God who answers our prayers and will bring us into that kingdom.

Okay, let's move on. Time's marching on here. Starting on verse 14 and going through the end of the chapter, what we have is a discussion about how Paul pastors a church. And what we're going to see, and looking at the life of the apostle Paul, we're going to see a strong Christian and how a strong Christian interacts with other Christians. So in one sense, we'll have more of the same. We'll have more of the same. Verse 14, now I myself am confident concerning you, my brethren, that you also are full of goodness, filled with all knowledge, and able to admonish one another. So when we take a look at verse 14 with the apostle Paul, what do we see in him? And we should, if we want to be strong Christians like he was, we need to see the same thing in ourself. In verse 14, we see that Paul was gracious in dealing with people. He was gracious in dealing with people.

He called the people there brothers and sisters. They were his family.

They weren't somebody under him. They were his family. He loved them as family. They were his brothers and his sisters. It says, you are also full of goodness. I'm sure Paul wasn't saying that, just to be saying it. I'm sure that it was true. Here are a group of people that were full of goodness. Now, this phrase here in the Greek means that these people were helpful.

Can we do that? Can we be helpful to one another? Is that asking too much? Is that like climbing Mount Everest? I don't think so. To be helpful to one another, to be kind to one another, to have an inner depth and a richness of spirit. That's what that whole phrase means, to be full of goodness. As Wayne was saying in the sermon, we can have that through Jesus Christ. It says here, to be filled with all knowledge.

Here we're looking at people who've got spiritual insight and perception.

Brethren, how many times have you asked God to give you spiritual insight and perception? We're not talking about so you understand all the doctrines of the church. We need spiritual insight and perception so we can deal better with one another. As I've told people over the past, and I've said to you on several occasions, computers are easy. People are hard.

Computers are just punks of material that are going to garbage in, garbage out. But you never know what people are going to do. So we need spiritual insights. We need spiritual perception, and God can give us that. And lastly, it says they are able to enroll to admonish one another, to admonish, to guide one another, to guide one another. That's something we can ask God to help give us some strength and to be able to be a good guide to one another. Verse 15, Nevertheless, brethren, I have written more boldly to you on some points as reminding you because of the grace given to me by God. So here we see another strength of a Christian, here of a minister and also the Christian, boldness. Not boldness to run somebody, you know, down, or boldness to jump all over people, but boldness in a sense of reminding people.

Reminding people what's in their best interest spiritually.

I'm not going to turn there. There's a couple of scriptures here you might want to put in your notes. 1 John 4, verse 18, where it says, Perfect love casts out fear. Now, we balk at the word perfect. Mature love casts out fear. Mature love. We want, as Christians, to have mature love. If we are mature in our love, we will be bold toward one another to help one another. You might jot down 2 Timothy 1, 7, God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of love and a power and a sound, a balanced mind.

We are here to bear one another's burdens. We are here to be our brother's keeper. We are here to be bold in reminding one another of why we're here.

One other thing you might jot down in your notes, Acts chapter 20, verse 27. Acts 20, 27. Paul, in Acts chapter 20, is seeing some elders for the last time in his life. He realizes he's coming to the end of his days, and he has a meeting with some. He calls and says, I'm here in Miletus. I want you fellows from Ephesus to come on down. We're going to have a discussion, have a ministerial conference, and at the end of that he says, you know, you will see my face no more. But one of the things Paul says, Acts 20, 27. For I have not shunned to declare to you the whole counsel of God, the whole counsel of God. You know, I take that very seriously. My job as your pastor is to give you the whole counsel of God. It's not just to talk about prophecy exclusively. It's not just to talk about history exclusively. It's not just to talk to you about Christian living exclusively. I need to cover the whole counsel of God. Now, you can determine how successful I've been since I've been your pastor these last 14 years. But as Christians who want to be strong Christians, you know, I've got my responsibility as your pastor. But you've got responsibility as Christians to study these various areas of the Word. To go into areas that you really are not that familiar with and really dig in there and what's there. How can I know how to live by every word of God if I don't know the word of God? Now, what I'm talking about is a lifelong process. There's no quick fix here. It's going to take all of our life to accomplish this. But we need to be looking into that. We need to be bold in this.

Dropping down to Romans 15, verse 16, that I might be a minister of Jesus Christ to the Gentiles, ministering the gospel of God, that the offering of the Gentiles might be acceptable, sanctified by the Holy Spirit. Here we see a strong Christian, a strong minister, is a servant. A servant. As a matter of fact, the word here for minister is the same word that can be used for priests.

You and I are going to be kings and priests in the world tomorrow. There's a sense here that the offering of the Gentiles might be acceptable, sanctified by the Holy Spirit. You know, Paul's idea here was that I want to nurture people. I want to be there to encourage and nurture people so that they will fulfill what God wants them to fulfill in their lives. And again, I ask you, how are you doing with that? I've got to ask myself how I'm doing with that. How are you doing with that? Are we nurturing one another? Do we have a nurturing atmosphere here in the in the church, in the Detroit church? We go back to Romans chapter 12 for just a moment. Romans chapter 12, verse 1, I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God that you present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your reasonable service. And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you might prove what is the good and acceptable and perfect will of God. Brethren, not only are we to be doing that for ourselves, we are to be there boldly, helping serving those around us to accomplish this. That's what Paul was talking about regarding the the Gentiles. And the only reason they're using the word the idea of Gentiles here is people who didn't have the same background.

You know, they didn't have, you know, x number of hundreds of years or thousands of years of history with God that the Israelites did. Moving on, going back to chapter 15 verses 17 through 19, 17, 18, and 19, verse 17, therefore I have reason to glory in Christ Jesus in the things which pertain to God. Again, here's the man is Christ-centered. For I will not declare, for I will not dare to speak of any of those things which Christ has not accomplished through me, in word and deed, to make the Gentiles obedient, in mighty signs and wonders by the power of the Spirit of God, so that from Jerusalem and around about till Allerium, I have fully preached the gospel of Christ.

Again, Christ was the centerpiece of this man's life. He wants it for our lives as well.

Verse 20 and verse 21. We talked about earlier about how we're going to have some public lectures. I'm hoping that you'll be praying about that. We've got a lot of people in this area. When we had, and I've said this in the past, but when we had our World News and Prophecy Seminar several years ago, I said, well, what do we have? Who's getting literature in the Detroit metro area, the Detroit and Ann Arbor area? And they got back and they said, you know, Randy, you've got almost 6,000 people getting literature in the area. In the zip code you gave us, we've got like 6,000 people. You've got more people than Dallas Fort Worth. And, you know, when you think about how this church began, its roots were so strong in the south. Some of those big radio stations over the years, over the over decades, for us to have that kind of response in this area was, I thought, quite significant.

Wouldn't it be nice to pack this hall with people? Now, we're not having these things as a membership drive. That's not the point. The point is we need to be a witness to the world. We need to get a message out as attractively as we possibly can, and then God's going to do with it what he will do with it. But I'm hoping that, you know, that God allows us to snag a few as they come swimming by.

So here we have in verse 20, And so I have made it my aim to preach the gospel, not where Christ was named, lest I should build on another man's foundation, but as it is written, to whom he was not announced, they shall see, and those who have not heard shall understand. Here's a quotation from the book of Isaiah, chapter 52, how people, when God opens their mind, will respond positively to the gospel message. Here's something for us to be praying about, that God would open the minds of those who will be getting our invitation, that they will come, that whoever's speaking, probably me, will say some things that pique their interest, that you will say some things to them privately as you're shaking hands and greeting people, that will pique their interest, and they will want to come back. But they'll sense in you nurturing people, and the only place they want to be on a Saturday is here.

They're supposedly going to be sending out some information for me to discuss with you about how do we work with new people and so on. So I'm looking forward to that, and you'll be hearing sermons along those lines. And then probably September 10th or so, as one of the target dates, we'll simply send out X number of letters to X number of people in the area. We'll say, you know, 230 Birmingham Unitarian Church, and whoever comes in the door comes in the door. And each of us will have a responsibility to be an ambassador for Jesus Christ. See how that goes. Okay, dropping down here to verse 22, Romans 15, 22, for this reason I have also been much hindered from coming to you. Well, for what reason? Well, for the reason Paul was going to different areas, he didn't want to go where Christ had been preached, you know, it was a good business decision. Nothing wrong with having business decisions. You know, he had his mind, he was thinking, well, you know, if they've heard the gospel there, well, why should I go there when they're places they've never heard the gospel? And so, you know, it was in Paul's mind to go into new venues. That shows a strong Christian. He wanted to be a pioneer. And that should be something that we would want to. But also here in verse 22, it says, he has been much hindered. I'm not going to turn here, but in your notes you might want to jot down 1 Thessalonians chapter 2 and verse 18. 1 Thessalonians 2, 18, where Paul says to the church there in Thessalonikus, you know, I really wanted to come to you time and again, but Satan hindered me.

Brethren, God allows Satan to hinder us.

He allows Satan to hinder the work of the church. Does that mean that's not the church? Well, of course not. Paul got hindered.

Most of the apostles were martyred. We read in the book of Revelation that there are great many rank-and-file Christians that are going to be martyred and have been martyred. So this is something for us to be praying about when we think about having these Bible lectures in the near future. Verse 23, but now no longer having a place in these parts and having a great desire in these many years to come to you. So Paul says, you know, I've kind of done the thing now. I've started churches. We've developed manpower. We've ordained people. They're going well. So now I think now I can come to see you guys. Verse 24, whenever I journey to Spain, I will come to you, for I hope to see you on my journey and to be helped on my way there by you. At first, I may enjoy your company for a while. Here we see another aspect to a strong Christian. I'm hoping that as you study the scriptures, you think deeply about what you're...you know, I've not really studied this that deeply until this last week and seen some things I've never seen before. That's one of the beauties of the scriptures. But here in verse 24, what do I see in the Apostle Paul? We see a man who's got a worldwide vision. He's not just thinking about his own little thing. He's thinking in big terms. He wants to go to Spain. Now the Roman Empire, in which Paul lived, extended all the way over to Great Britain. But Spain was, you know, that's kind of a fringe... some of the western fringes of the empire. Paul wanted to go to the ends of the earth, so to speak, to proclaim the gospel. In this case, for him, it was Spain. And, you know, for us, as we, you know, hear the various men who go around the world to proclaim the truth of God, we need to be praying for them. You know, Mr. Rhodes, as he goes around the world and the others, you know, Mr. Cubic.

I believe every member of the Rhodes family has got malaria from their travels to serve God's people. They do it willingly and delightfully, and they do a wonderful job. They're loving people. They love to be with God's people. We need to be praying for folks who do those kinds of things.

Verse 25, Romans 15, 25, But now I'm going to Jerusalem to minister to the saints. Now, Paul has all sorts of plans. Paul realizes that his plans are only as good as God allows them to be. Paul only has, at this point, about 10 more years to live. Now, he doesn't know that, just like you, and I don't know when our end date's going to be. But when Paul goes to Jerusalem, that's going to set off a chain of events that eventually is going to take his life. But now I'm going to Jerusalem to minister to the saints, for it please those from Macedonian Achaia to make certain contributions for the poor among the saints who are in Jerusalem. It please them indeed, and they are debtors, for if the Gentiles have been partakers of their spiritual things, their duty also is to minister to them in the material things. So here you see a situation. We see it in the book of Corinthians, 1 Corinthians, where the saints in Jerusalem are very poor. They're destitute. There have been some great difficulties there. And so Paul goes into northern Greece, and he takes up an offering. He's going to take this offering to the headquarters church. And Paul's saying, please pray that this would be accepted. No one wants charity in one sense, but they do need a helping hand. Pray they receive it properly. And also in verse 27, he said the Gentiles have been partakers of their spiritual things. What Paul's getting at there is the the Gentiles had heard the truth of God because Jerusalem was sending out men like Paul and Barnabas, and they were going out and they were proclaiming the truth of God to the Gentiles. Paul and Barnabas were bringing spiritual food to the world. And now the Gentiles say, hey look, we may not be that much better off than they are, but we have some extra food. Let us send some physical food to our brothers and sisters in the home office, into Jerusalem. And that's what we have here. Brother helping brother. What is it that we have to give? Brethren, what is it you have to give here in Detroit specifically? What is it you have to give? What is it that I have to give? We need to be looking at ourselves as to what it is we have to give, and we need to be coming here to Detroit and giving it. And if we don't do that, why not? Why not?

Moving on to verse 28. Therefore, when I have performed this and have been sealed to them this through, I shall go by the way of you to Spain. So again, this whole idea that he's got things he wants to do, he wants to visit them. Verse 29, but I know that when I come to you, I shall come in the fullness of the blessing of the gospel of Christ. I come in the fullness of the blessing of the gospel of Christ. Now here's a man who says, you know, when I come, I want to be refreshed. I want to be refreshed.

Are we in Detroit refreshed by interacting with one another? What is it you are specifically doing to refresh those around you?

What is it I'm doing to refresh you because you are I'm your pastor. What am I doing to refresh you? Do I refresh you? Maybe I don't. Maybe you do a better job of refreshing those around than I do. But it's something for us to think about, something for us to be introspective about in terms of refreshing one another. Verse 30, now I beg you, brethren, through the Lord Jesus Christ and through the love of the Spirit, that you strive together with me in prayers to God for me. That's a really interesting phrase here, to strive together with me in prayer. In the Greek is a word picture that shows a connection to athletics. Basically, Paul says, you're the home team. We need to work together as a team, a team approach. I'll be the one who goes out and I'll be the one who gets stoned and beat up and shipwrecked and suffer privation and what have you, but I need your prayers. If I'm going to go out and do those sorts of things, if I'm going to be the tip of the spear, then you've got to be there praying for me that I have the strength to do that. And you go through the life of the Apostle Paul, it's amazing. There was the one city, where I think it was Iconium, where he was stoned. They thought he probably died. Maybe he did die, and God resurrected him. I would have to think being stoned is pretty hard on the body. Really painful. But you know, as you read that section of Scripture, reading the next couple of chapters, you see where Paul goes off and he does, meets with other people. And then what does he do? He comes right back to that city where he had been stoned, maybe died. A courageous man. He says, I will do that because God has requested I do this, but I need your prayers. We are a team. I'm part of the body, but I'm not the whole body, he says. Brethren, let's see when I have that same thought. We are part of the body, but we're not the whole body. We need one another. Verse 31, that it might be delivered from those in Judea who did not believe, and that my service for Jerusalem may be acceptable to the saints. He understood the people in Jerusalem. There are people there in Judea who wanted him dead. They viewed him as a traitor because he was one who once used to attack the Christians. Now he was chief among them. Verse 32, that it may come to you with joy by the will of God, and may be refreshed together with you. There's that concept again. We've hit it a second time. He wants to be with the brethren, so the brethren will refresh him. A strong church is refreshing to be in. And the only way that happens is when we have strong Christians who are refreshing one another.

Verse 33, Now the God of peace be with you all. Amen. You know, it's interesting the way this has worked out. I think it was about a year and a half, two years ago I gave a sermon going through Romans chapter 16. That's why we're not going to go through that. I've already covered this some time ago. But chapter 15 in one sense, this is a benediction. This is an end point here. You know, may the God of peace be with you all. Amen. I'm not going to turn here. If you go back to chapter 1, that's how Paul starts. You know, the grace of Christ be with all of you. So he's going to start with grace. He's going to end with grace. And he gives a tremendous story in between talking about what it means to be a Christian. Brethren, today we've taken a look at what it means to be a strong Christian, what it means to have a strong church. To me, it was a very corrective sermon to me personally. I'm hoping you feel the same way. I'm hoping that as I went through this material, you were kind of like, oh, you're stepping on my toes here. You know? Because that's how I felt as I was going through it. I've got some work to do. And hopefully you think the same thing and we'll together be the people God wants us to be.