Paul’s Ambition: Preach Christ, Build Community, Pray

Devotional

Day 1: A New Agenda Shaped by the Gospel of Grace

As the calendar turns, you are invited to reset your agenda around grace. Paul models a life that boasts only in what Christ has done, not in personal achievement or platform. He points to the Spirit’s power, not his own strength, and aims for people to become an offering to God. Let your goals for 2026 be shaped by this same posture—glorying in Jesus, speaking of His work, and trusting His Spirit. Ask the Lord to reorder your commitments so your days serve His purposes. [29:30]

Romans 15:17–19: My confidence is in Christ as I serve God. I refuse to brag about anything except what the Messiah has accomplished through me—bringing nations into obedient faith through my words and actions, confirmed by powerful works and the Spirit’s strength. From Jerusalem all the way to Illyricum, I have carried the message of Christ fully.

Reflection: What is one concrete change to your weekly schedule that would shift your focus from self-driven goals to “speaking of what Christ has accomplished,” and when will you begin it?

Day 2: Take the Gospel Where It’s Not Known

Paul’s ambition was to preach where Christ wasn’t yet named, and that call still stands. Many around you may know the name “Jesus” yet have never heard the true gospel of grace—only pressure, performance, or prosperity talk. Resist complacency; let love move you toward people and places that feel overlooked or uncomfortable. Ask the Spirit to open your eyes to neighbors, coworkers, and classmates who are hungry for the real story. Take one step this week to carry good news into an ordinary space. [33:15]

Romans 15:20–21; Isaiah 52:15: I set my aim to announce the good news where Jesus has not been named, so I won’t build on another’s foundation. As Scripture foretold, those who were never told will see, and those who haven’t heard will finally understand.

Reflection: Identify one specific setting in your routine where Jesus is rarely mentioned. What relational, humble step will you take there this week to make Him known?

Day 3: Interdependent Faith: We Don’t Do This Alone

Paul’s journey to deliver aid to Jerusalem shows how believers are bound together in holy interdependence. The Christian life isn’t a solo project; we need the body’s accountability, encouragement, and care. If you’ve been worshiping at a distance, you’re missing the joy and strength that come through shared life. Choose to reengage: show up, serve, pray, and be known. In Christ, we are knit together for mission and for mutual upbuilding. [40:56]

Romans 15:25–27: I’m heading to Jerusalem to serve the believers. The churches in Macedonia and Achaia gladly gathered a gift for the poor among the saints there; they recognized a debt of love—since Gentiles shared in Jewish spiritual riches, it’s fitting to share material help in return.

Reflection: What is one specific act of interdependence you will practice this month—joining a group, serving on a team, or inviting someone to pray with you—and whom will you contact today to begin?

Day 4: Striving Together in Prayer for the Mission

Paul invites believers to “join me in my struggle by praying,” because mission advances on the rails of intercession. Prayer guards from opposition, makes service acceptable, opens doors, and refreshes weary hearts. Let your concern become prayer, not just sentiment—name people before the Lord and ask boldly. Build simple rhythms: a daily list, a kneeling moment, a shared prayer with a friend. May God’s peace, deeper than understanding, rest on you as you pray. [42:19]

Romans 15:30–33: I appeal to you, by our Lord Jesus Christ and the Spirit’s love, contend with me by praying to God. Ask that I’d be kept safe from those who oppose the faith in Judea and that my service in Jerusalem will be welcomed, so I may come to you with joy by God’s will and find refreshment together. May the God of peace be with you all.

Reflection: Choose two names—one laboring in ministry and one far from Christ. When, specifically, will you intercede for them each day this week?

Day 5: Surrender, Repent, and Align with Christ’s Heartbeat This Year

A new year is a gracious time to confess both the sins we commit and the good we leave undone. Resist the pull to build bigger barns of comfort while neglecting the kingdom’s call. Ask the Lord to realign your heartbeat with His—ready to go where it’s hard, to speak when it’s costly, and to love when it’s inconvenient. Trust the Spirit to remove what blinds you and to set your steps in obedience. Let 2026 be marked by surrendered availability to Jesus. [47:56]

Acts 9:17–18: Ananias entered, laid hands on Saul, and said that Jesus—who met him on the road—sent him so he would see again and be filled with the Holy Spirit. Something like scales fell from Saul’s eyes; he regained sight, was baptized, and his life took a new course.

Reflection: Where have you recently sensed a nudge to speak or act for Jesus but stayed silent? What small, concrete step of obedience will you take in the next 48 hours?

Sermon Summary

In Romans 15:14-33, a clear agenda emerges for life and ministry shaped by grace. Paul acknowledges a mature church—full of goodness, growing in knowledge, and competent to instruct—yet still in need of bold reminders. His life has been radically redirected by Christ’s intervention, shifting from self-advancement to a Spirit-empowered mission that glories only in what Christ accomplishes through him. The aim is not admiration for a messenger but transformation of people into an offering acceptable to God, sanctified by the Holy Spirit. This grace-centered ambition defines where he goes, how he speaks, and what he celebrates.

The priority is to preach the gospel where Christ is not known, refusing complacency or comfort. That raises a searching question: do neighbors truly know the gospel—or only counterfeits marked by hypocrisy, moralism, or prosperity? The good news cannot sit still; it moves, gathers, and builds a community bound by supernatural love. Paul refuses to make ministry a personal brand; he points all attention to Jesus and calls people into a shared life where Christ is central.

This shared life is not optional. The Jerusalem collection illustrates interdependence: the church does not “go it alone.” Genuine discipleship involves belonging, accountability, and mutual care in the body of Christ. Those who try to live the faith in isolation miss both the call and the gift of the church’s embodied fellowship, where encouragement, correction, and sacrificial service take root.

Finally, everything is bathed in prayer. Paul urges intercession for protection, fruitful service, joyful fellowship, and peace. As a new year begins, the text presses hard questions: What ambitions drive the heart? Are sins being confessed—or excused? Are there sins of omission where fear or apathy silences witness? The path forward is to align the heart with Christ’s, surrender what hinders, and step into mission together—preaching Christ, going to difficult places, belonging to a local body, and persisting in prayer.

Key Takeaways

1. Let grace reset your life agenda. Grace reorients desires from self-advancement to Christ’s work through us. It dethrones personal glory and measures success by Spirit-shaped obedience, not recognition. When grace writes the plan, boasting fades and Jesus is the headline. This reset is both decisive and daily, continually turning back to what Christ has accomplished. [29:30]
2. Aim for offerings, not followings. The goal is not to gather admirers but to present people as living sacrifices to God. Genuine ministry equips others to belong to Christ, not to a personality or platform. Leaders come and go; offerings endure because they belong to God. A community centered on Jesus becomes both holy and resilient. [30:32]
3. Go where Christ is least known. Mission begins where the gospel is scarce—even across the street. Many know the name “Jesus” yet lack the news of grace, hearing instead moralism or prosperity promises. Love compels us into inconvenient places with patient clarity and humility. The gospel must keep moving or it starts shrinking. [32:11]
4. Practice interdependence through embodied community. The church is designed for mutual giving and receiving, not spiritual independence. Belonging provides accountability, comfort, and courage to keep going when convictions are tested. Isolation often masks self-focus; community trains us to love beyond ourselves. The body supplies what no private devotion can. [38:09]
5. Wage ministry by persevering prayer. Prayer is not decorative; it carries the work. It seeks deliverance, fruitfulness, joy, and peace—all gifts God delights to give His people. Intercession joins us to one another’s battles and to God’s power. What we cannot accomplish by strategy, God grants through prayer. [42:19]

Youtube Chapters

[00:00] - Welcome
[22:09] - Opening Prayer: Emmanuel to Golgotha
[23:04] - Turning to Romans 15:14-33
[24:05] - Paul’s transformation and new agenda
[24:57] - Numbering our days, posture reset
[26:18] - Commending Rome: goodness, knowledge, competence
[28:57] - Paul’s grace-centered ministry aim
[30:32] - Building people as offerings to God
[32:11] - Preaching where Christ is not known
[33:15] - Do our neighbors know the gospel?
[34:55] - A gospel that never stands still
[35:48] - Discernment for the new year
[38:09] - Interdependence of the body, not solo
[42:19] - Joining the struggle through prayer
[43:57] - Resolutions aligned with Christ’s heartbeat

Bible Study Guide

Bible reading

- Romans 15:14-33

I myself am convinced, my brothers and sisters, that you yourselves are full of goodness, filled with knowledge and competent to instruct one another. Yet I have written you quite boldly on some points to remind you of them again, because of the grace God gave me to be a minister of Christ Jesus to the Gentiles. He gave me the priestly duty of proclaiming the gospel of God, so that the Gentiles might become an offering acceptable to God, sanctified by the Holy Spirit.
Therefore I glory in Christ Jesus in my service to God. I will not venture to speak of anything except what Christ has accomplished through me in leading the Gentiles to obey God by what I have said and done—by the power of signs and wonders, through the power of the Spirit of God. So from Jerusalem all the way around to Illyricum, I have fully proclaimed the gospel of Christ. It has always been my ambition to preach the gospel where Christ was not known, so that I would not be building on someone else’s foundation. Rather, as it is written:
“Those who were not told about him will see,
and those who have not heard will understand.”
This is why I have often been hindered from coming to you.
But now that there is no more place for me to work in these regions, and since I have been longing for many years to visit you, I plan to do so when I go to Spain. I hope to see you while passing through and to have you assist me on my journey there, after I have enjoyed your company for a while. Now, however, I am on my way to Jerusalem in the service of the Lord’s people there. For Macedonia and Achaia were pleased to make a contribution for the poor among the Lord’s people in Jerusalem. They were pleased to do it, and indeed they owe it to them. For if the Gentiles have shared in the Jews’ spiritual blessings, they owe it to the Jews to share with them their material blessings. So after I have completed this task and have made sure that they have received this contribution, I will go to Spain and visit you on the way. I know that when I come to you, I will come in the full measure of the blessing of Christ.
I urge you, brothers and sisters, by our Lord Jesus Christ and by the love of the Spirit, to join me in my struggle by praying to God for me. Pray that I may be kept safe from the unbelievers in Judea and that the contribution I take to Jerusalem may be favorably received by the Lord’s people there, so that I may come to you with joy, by God’s will, and in your company be refreshed.

Observation questions

In Romans 15:14, what three qualities does Paul say mark the church in Rome, and why do those matter for a church’s health?
According to Romans 15:16-18, what is the aim of Paul’s ministry and what does he refuse to boast about?
What specific ambition guides Paul’s travel plans in Romans 15:20-21, and how does Isaiah’s promise shape that ambition?
Paul describes two practices in Romans 15:25-27 and 30-33 that reveal how ministry actually moves forward. What are they, and what do they show about the Christian life? How were these practices described as interdependent and prayerful? [38:09]

Interpretation questions

If a church can be “full of goodness, filled with all knowledge, and competent to instruct,” why would they still need bold reminders (Romans 15:14-15)? What does that suggest about spiritual maturity?
What does it mean to present people as “an offering acceptable to God, sanctified by the Holy Spirit” (Romans 15:16)? How does that change how success in ministry is measured?
Why might prioritizing places “where Christ is not known” (Romans 15:20) be just as necessary “across the street” as across the world? What does this imply about assumptions we make about our neighbors’ understanding of the gospel? [33:15]
How does the Jerusalem collection (Romans 15:25-27) model unity between different groups of believers? What principles about belonging and mutual care carry into the life of a local church today?

Application questions

Grace resets the agenda. Where has ambition in your life drifted toward self-advancement or recognition? What is one practical change this month (in schedule, goals, or words) that would shift the headline back to “what Christ has accomplished”? [29:30]
Aim for offerings, not followings. Who are one or two people God is putting on your heart to help become “an offering acceptable to God”? What will you do this week to point them clearly to Jesus rather than to yourself or a personality? [30:32]
Go where Christ is least known—nearby. Think of one neighbor, coworker, or family member who has heard of “Jesus” but mostly met moralism or prosperity promises. What would a short, clear, grace-filled explanation of the gospel sound like from you? When will you share it? [33:15]
Practice interdependence. If you’ve been walking in isolation, what is your next concrete step into embodied community—joining a group, serving on a team, asking two people to check in with you, or inviting someone into your home? Set a date. [38:09]
Wage ministry by persevering prayer. Who will you intercede for daily this week—specifically asking for protection, fruitfulness, joy, and peace? When during your day will you pray, and how will you remember? [42:19]
Confess sins of omission. Where has fear or apathy kept you silent when you could have witnessed to Christ? Name one recent moment. What is one simple, faithful next step to obey Jesus in a similar moment this week? [46:46]
Refuse complacency. Where do your calendar or budget reveal a “bigger barns” mindset? What is one adjustment you will make in January to prioritize gospel movement and generosity over comfort? [35:48]

Sermon Clips

When I consider what Paul's ambitions and what his agenda is for his life as he leans into what's next, he does not want people to become dependent on him. But rather, his desire is that each person would be an offering unto God. And so he's not building some network of people that are focused on what Paul is saying. Instead, Paul is always focused on pointing all things to Christ Jesus. [00:30:17] (34 seconds) #PointToChrist

Paul lays it out pretty clearly here in this text. It has always been my desire, not from the beginning, but since that time when life changed for him, when that transformation of Christ that poured over him happened on the road to Damascus. And we know what happened. And he says, my ambition, my agenda has changed. It is to preach the gospel of Christ where it is not known. You know, we think about our own culture and our own world today. We think, well, everybody knows about Jesus. Everybody's heard of the gospel of Jesus Christ. Is that true? [00:32:35] (40 seconds) #PreachWhereUnknown

And I'm not talking about those far-off lands or those far-off places. Is that true in Wayne County? Is that seriously the truth? And if they've heard of him, have they heard the true story? Or do they hear the story of all these hypocrites? Or the story of, well, if you worked harder, if you were only better. Or some sort of prosperity message. Do they know the true gospel of grace? And I believe that is what Paul was encouraging them with. [00:33:15] (33 seconds) #TrueGospelForAll

But it's always been an agenda. It's always been an ambition. It's always been what matters. If the gospel ministry is fulfilled by offering people all over the world, and including Wayne County, to be obedient sacrifices unto God, to bend a knee to adore the King Jesus, that means that this message can never become complacent. It can never stand still. It is a message that goes and spurs others on. It's a message that goes and conquers. It's a message that is continually shared. [00:34:19] (49 seconds) #GospelOnMission

You see, in this season of discernment and processing, as we turn the calendar from 25 to 26, I think this is a vital opportunity for each of us to pause and say, okay, God, what do you want for this year for me? Are there aspects of my life that I need to completely surrender over to you? Are there vices in my life and sins in my life that I continue going back to, that you've told me are unhealthy, that I know is unhealthy, but I keep doing because my flesh desires it? We don't do these things alone. [00:36:00] (49 seconds) #SurrenderThisYear

As he's encouraging them, he's reminding them of the interdependence that happens as the body of believers gathers together and joins together and meets together and prays together and is there for one another. No Christian, no Christian church can go it alone. We can't do it alone. There is no existence apart from the wider fellowship of the worldwide church, of the church united together. [00:40:56] (41 seconds) #UnitedInChurch

And so Paul continues that his ambition, his agenda, is first and foremost about sharing the good news of the gospel of Christ. And really is about the gospel, and that's all that matters, the gospel of grace. And his desire is to seek to share the message of Jesus Christ with the people who do not yet know him yet. Because he realizes full well the importance of this ambition. And he doesn't do it alone. It requires the interdependence with other believers. [00:41:37] (39 seconds) #GospelOfGraceFirst

I most recently had somebody talk to me about sin and say, you know, I don't have much sin in my life. And as I began to kind of dig in a little further, they had never thought of a sin of omission. The sin of not being faithful. They recognized that they're not sinning or doing this or doing that, but when an opportunity becomes and we do not share the good news of Jesus Christ and we're not living out the ambition or the ways in which God desires for us to live, is that a sin? [00:46:41] (32 seconds) #SinOfOmission

Ask a question about this sermon

Chatbot

Why seek unreached places instead of familiar foundations?

Is failing to share Jesus a sin?

How does prayer sustain unity and mission?