Today’s passage: Romans 15:14-21
Helpful thoughts:
- With verse 14, Paul begins to close down this letter to the church at Rome.
- The ministry of the Spirit encapsulates verse 14-16. We have a ministry to one another that is fueled by and ultimately ensured through the ministry of the Holy Spirit.
- The Holy Spirit fills the people of God with hope (Verse 13).
- The people of God are equipped to instruct one another.
- God uses Paul to equip other people to instruct one another.
- The Holy Spirit sanctifies the people of God.
- The Holy Spirit fills the people of God with hope (Verse 13).
- God gifted and equipped Paul to be a gospel proclaimer and pioneer church planter during the apostolic period in parts of the world who had not yet heard. Therefore, it was Paul’s joy and chief ambition to do exactly what God gifted and equipped him to do.
Questions to consider:
- If someone is a genuine follower of Jesus Christ, where will they trend toward in their development as a Christian? Towards Christ-likeness or away from it? Who guarantees that trajectory? What is our role in helping one another toward the goal? How should these truths encourage us to work hard for one another and also take away the stress of thinking it’s all on us to succeed?
- When Paul took the gospel to the Gentiles, what did those who believed become (Verse 18)? What fruit followed their initial belief? Is there such a thing as conversion without repentance and subsequent progressive sanctification? Does a person get saved because they changed and did good or do people change because they were saved? Which of those rings true with the gospel message?
- What has the Spirit of God gifted you to do in service to Him and your brothers and sisters in Christ? If Paul had joy and contentment in lovingly serving God and the church, where might other Christians find joy and contentment? Why are love and service critical to our having joy in participating in and with the church?