Romans 15:14-33 - Audio

We are getting so close to the end of this fantastic letter from the amazing Apostle Paul to the church in Rome! The contents have been about grace from beginning to end. As we enter the second half of chapter 15, we will see as the tone of the letter changes a bit. Paul speaks to them about some “odds and ends” as he draws this letter to a close. His argument made, Paul discusses some of his future travel plans with them. Not everyone has a “pioneer spirit”, but Paul certainly does! He will travel about 10,000 miles that we know of for the sake of the news about Jesus! And he is not ready for retirement. He wants to go to new frontiers for Jesus! Have you noticed how many new churches are cropping up in the Charlottesville area? Every time I turn around I hear of a new church plant meeting in a different school somewhere in our region. Now this is not wrong, but we could certainly agree that people in the Charlottesville area can find a place to worship Jesus, and no new churches are really doing anything that different from what is already being done. But, like Paul, there are some that have experienced such joy and freedom and peace in Jesus, they can hardly imagine a place where people just don’t know! Well, that was the apostle Paul! He had such spiritual ambitions! But you might say: I am not called to traveling; I don’t like to fly, and I'm a homebody. We will see that the churches have a role together to support and encourage those who are going to new places. A church that is alive is always working on the inside to love one another and on the outside to love the one who has never heard and to use our resources to make sure they can hear about Jesus as well. There are some real gems in this last section of chapter 15. Does Paul ever make it to see the people in Rome? Does he ever make it to Spain and western Europe? Listen in as Pastor Steve takes until into the home stretch of the book of Romans.