Paul draws his letter to the Roman church by greeting over 25 gospel-transformed Jewish and Gentiles believers he knows in the Roman Church. He then warns them of a danger they must watch out for, sends greeting from his team members, and then points them to the God of the gospel, the one worthy of all glory forever.

Paul thus finishes the most important Christian letter ever written, a letter focused on the gospel of God from beginning to end. It is full of important truths for all born-again believer to this day.

Fillable notes for this sermon can be found here.

Paul turns from the gospel to sharing his future plans with the Roman Christians. He wants to visit them on the way to Spain and to be helped by them in getting to Spain and being able to do mission work there. 

Paul needed the Romans to partner with him in missions. He needed financial support, practical help, and perhaps, a fellow traveler or two from the church to join him.

Missionaries and missions need partners today. Will you partner with a missionary or mission to further the gospel in our time?

As Paul begins to close out his letter he deals with the possibility of his motives for writing being misunderstood. Since he’d had no direct contact with the church in the past, some might have wondered why he’d suddenly be writing them and writing, at least in some cases, rather directly.

To explain, Paul refers to his mission and how the Roman Christians are part of that mission. He goes on to glorify God for the role he’s allowed him to have in that mission, a unique mission, to preach the gospel where it had never been preached.

Notes for this sermon can be found here.

A divided, pride-filled church where some felt superior to others and others didn’t feel welcome would have been a disaster for the gospel in Rome. For this reason Paul spent over a chapter in his letter to the church at Rome instructing believers there on how to think about and act toward fellow Christians who had scruples they didn’t share.

Paul closes his instruction by giving specific responsibilities to ‘the strong’, whom we today might call ‘the mature’. It would be up to them to assure the health of every believer in the church and to be sure the reputation of the church helped and did not hinder the spread of the gospel.

Mature believers must accept the responsibilities Paul lays out in this passage as he concludes this important instruction. It’s a message for mature Christians today.

Interactive note for this sermon can be found here.

In 14:1-12 Paul urged us to have the right attitude toward fellow Christians who did not share our opinions about non-essential Christian beliefs or practices.  In 14:13-23 Paul urges us to surrender our freedom, if necessary, to be sure we cause no harm to another Christian who doesn’t share the same freedom we have. Love is to regulate our freedom.

Christians are going to disagree about some issues. It might be acceptable entertainment, whether we allow our children to attend public schools, whether it is OK to celebrate holidays, and so on. When an issue is not clearly dealt with in the Bible or if the Bible is silent about the issue, we are to welcome those who disagree with us, not condemn, look down on, or withdraw fellowship from them.

This is the message Paul delivered to the Roman Christians who were treating those they disagreed with over issues of food, drink, and the observation of certain days as worthy of contempt. Paul instructed them, and then us, how to treat those we disagree with about similar types of issues. He then five reasons for doing so in this passage.

If you’ve ever overslept, you know a feeling you don’t want to have when Jesus returns suddenly. You don’t want to feel the panic of no being ready to meet him.

In Romans 13:11-14 Paul gives us four directions, which, if followed, will find us wide awake and prepared for Jesus when he returns or when we go to meet him.

Paul returns to the theme of love in Romans 13:8-10. His instruction is simple, but we will probably find the application hard. God, however, has provided a way for us to do so. Join us as we learn the one debt we owe to everyone we know or will ever meet and how we can pay that debt.

Probably none of us like to pay taxes. Often we find it hard to respect our civil authorities. Are we as Christians called to a higher standard in our relationship with civil authority than our non-Christian neighbors are?

Paul addresses a perennially hot button issue as he addresses the relationship of Christians to civil authority in Romans 13:1-7. This is an issue filled with questions, but also, as we’ll see, some clear guidance. Let’s see what we can learn from this, the longest passage on civil authority in the New Testament.

Born-again believers have peace with God (Romans 5:1). In this passage we learn that born-again believers are to live in peace with all other people. Besides learning that, we’ll discover four potential peace-destroyers and four harmony builders that can help us fulfill God’s desire that we live in peace with all people.

Notes for this sermon can be found here.