The Success of the Gospel - Part 1

In Romans 15:21-33, Paul explains to the Roman church why he has been delayed in visiting them — he has been fulfilling his God-given calling to preach the gospel in unreached regions before heading to Jerusalem and then Spain. Pastor Gordon draws out three ways local churches participate in the global gospel mission: through mutual encouragement, through generous giving, and through fervent prayer for gospel ministers. He emphasizes that God sovereignly sends each servant where He wills, and that faithful ministry is never on our own terms but on His. The Gentile churches giving to the poor Jewish believers in Jerusalem illustrates how all Christians are debtors to one another across ethnic and cultural lines. No local church should underestimate its significance — encouragement, giving, and prayer are not small things but the very means by which the gospel advances to the ends of the earth.