Romans 15, Lesson 20

God’s plan for reaching the Gentiles was His plan all along. Throughout Romans 15, people thought that God had to change His plan because people did not do what God had hoped. Some people today feel the same way. It is not that the Jews rejected God, therefore, God had to move to the Gentiles. God’s plan from the beginning was to bring in both Jews and Gentiles. Our job is to spread the gospel and not to try to stop upcoming events. We need to be prepared for persecution because that is what God said will happen. God is working out His plan, and it is good. Hope is essential to life. Our God is the God of hope. When we have hope in Jesus, we can be serious but we are not to be somber. We are to be joyful! There is a difference between being joyful and being silly or stupid. Verse 13 of Romans chapter 15 is a great verse to pray for others and ourselves. In verse 14, it says we are complete and filled with knowledge with the ability to be taught by others. We can always learn more about God. We do not always live up to what we know is right. It is a blessing to be reminded by other brothers and sisters in Christ about what we should do and about things that we should already know. Each time we read God’s word, our attitude should be that of asking God what it is that He would like us to learn today. Because we know Jesus and others know Him, too, that makes us brothers and sisters in Him. We need to be willing to set aside what we want to tell others about and tell them what Christ has done. We are to join others in their struggles by praying for them.