Collaboration

Glad that you are here with us today. A couple of weeks ago, my wife and I were in upstate New York, and we were out on a lake, and we decided to rent a canoe with some friends. And they rented their own canoe and we had ours for our family. Krista was sitting up in the front and I'm sitting in the back, and we had our four young children in the middle of the canoe. And our other friends that were there had their own canoe. They had their kid in the middle of the canoe and everything. And we just start heading out. We don't really have a particular place that we're going. We're just trying to explore the lake a little bit. And so we just start heading out there. And we start to get toward the center of this pretty decent sized lake. And I notice out in the middle of the lake there is an empty kayak. And I'm like, "Well, that's not what you want." That's not, that's usually not a good sign, but maybe somebody thought they tied it up and it floated out. Typically, things don't float inward in the lake, but you never know. And so I'm like, "All right, "let's just start heading out there." And we start paddling out there to the kayak that I saw. And as we get closer, I start seeing a life jacket in the water next to the kayak. All right, it doesn't get that bad, okay, just so you know. But I saw a life jacket in the kayak, and I start paddling faster and making sure we get there. And soon I start seeing some arms coming through the life jacket, and somebody's in the water, clearly fell off of their kayak, didn't have their life jacket on, now struggling to put the life jacket on in the water. And we just start paddling faster and faster. And finally we get there. And there is this kid in there. He's got the face of a 12-year-old and the body of a full grown man. And I have no idea how old he is, maybe like 14 or 15, but he's in the middle of this lake by himself, can't get back in his kayak, and he's just struggling in the water. And we're like, "All right, my dude, "we gotta get you to shore "and we gotta get you there fast." And so I tell him, I'm like, "Grab onto the back of the canoe. "I can't have you get in 'cause you're gonna tip us over. "I got all my kids in the canoe, "you can't get in, "you gotta grab onto the back of the canoe." My kids grab his kayak and we start paddling. After about two or three minutes we realize we haven't gone anywhere. Like, we're still in the same spot. We're just kind of turning this way and that because of him hanging onto the back of the canoe, and we got his kayak on the side. And that's when I finally realized we have this other family in the canoe next to us that we can just call over and have them help. And as soon as they come, they grab the other side of his kayak, he grabs onto both canoes, and we are able to quickly paddle him back to shore. You see, I got so set in my mind that I needed to save this kid that I forgot that I could call for other people to help me. It was just like, I need to save him. I saw the danger, I saw the situation, I saw that this kid needed saving, and I just jumped in and totally forgot that a better way to do it would actually be to do it with multiple people. You see, sometimes we get that in our minds. We see the need, we wanna meet the need. And especially when we're talking about the need for salvation, we see the need, we want to meet the need, we want to make sure the person is saved, and we get going. And we totally forget that we don't have to do this on our own. In fact, not only do we not have to do it on our own, it's actually better to not do it on our own. It's actually better to do it along with others. That's a little bit of what we see today as we look at our passage. We're gonna be in Romans 16 this morning. Romans 16. It's the last chapter of the Book of Romans. And as we've been going through this "We the Church" series, we've been talking about how God uses the church in order to see an area saturated with the Gospel. And He uses the church to send the Gospel out into the world and see the Kingdom of God advancing in the world, breaking down the strongholds of Satan, breaking down walls and areas where the Gospel has not been, and getting there and then saturating that area with the Gospel. And He does that through the church. And we've been looking at some different principles that we see in Scripture as to how that happens. And the principle that I want us to see today is that there must be collaboration among believers and collaboration among churches in order to see an area saturated with the Gospel. So you're gonna hear me say that word collaboration a lot today. Collaboration. What does collaboration mean? The word collaboration comes from the term co-labor. You see how that works, right? Collaboration, co-labor. It's that you are co-laboring in something together. You are working together towards something. And when we are talking about kingdom collaboration, we're talking about partnering together in the work of Gospel saturation, in the work of making disciples of all nations, the work of giving every man, woman, and child repeated opportunities to hear and see the Gospel of Jesus Christ. And it's a design, it's God's design that we do this work together, that we don't do it on our own. We all have a role to play in it. We all take part in it, but we do it together. That is God's design. He has designed it that way very purposefully. And we see a glimpse of that in the final chapter of the Book of Romans, Romans 16. And when we put the big picture together of what's happening in Romans 16, this is what we see, that God is glorified when His people collaborate in the work of the Gospel. God is glorified when His people, the church, collaborate in the work of the Gospel. So this is what we're gonna do. We're gonna read Romans 16 all the way through here at the beginning, and so it's gonna be up on the screen or you can have it open in your copy of God's Word. But this is what the apostle Paul writes at the end of the Book of Romans. He says, "I commend to you our sister Phoebe, "a deacon of the church in Cenchreae. "I ask you to receive her in the Lord "in a way worthy of His people "and to give her any help she may need from you, "for she has been the benefactor of many people, "including me. "Greet Priscilla and Aquila, "my co-workers in Christ Jesus. "They risked their lives for me. "Not only I but all the churches of the Gentiles "are grateful to them. "Greet also the church that meets at their house. "Greet my dear friend Epenetus, "who was the first convert to Christ "in the province of Asia. "Greet Mary, who worked very hard for you. "Greet Andronicus and Junia, "my fellow Jews who have been in prison with me. "They are outstanding among the apostles, "and they were in Christ before I was. "Greet Ampliatus, my dear friend in the Lord. "Greet Urbanus, our co-worker in Christ, "and my dear friend Stachys. "Greet Apelles, whose fidelity to Christ stood the test. "Greet those who belong to the household of Aristobulus. "Greet Herodion, my fellow Jew. "Greet those in the household of Narcissus "who are in the Lord. "Greet Tryphena and Tryphosa, "those women who work hard in the Lord. "Greet my dear friend Persis, "another woman who has worked very hard in the Lord. "Greet Rufus, chosen in the Lord, "and his mother, who has been a mother to me, too. "Greet Asyncritus, Phlegon, Hermes, Patrobas, Hermas "and the other brothers and sisters with them. "Greet Philologus, Julia, Nereus and his sister, "and Olympas and all the Lord's people who are with them. "Greet one another with a holy kiss." Let me just pause right there and say, hey, if you're in community group this week, you give a standing ovation to anybody who reads that passage, okay? I just want you to recognize that person. And if you're gonna be that person, practice before you show up at community group. It took me several times, all right. "All the churches of Christ send greetings. "I urge you, brothers and sisters, "to watch out for those who cause divisions "and put obstacles in your way "that are contrary to the teaching you have learned. "Keep away from them. "For such people are not serving our Lord Christ, "but their own appetites. "By smooth talk and flattery "they deceive the minds of naive people. "Everyone has heard about your obedience, "so I rejoice because of you; "but I want you to be wise about what is good, "and innocent about what is evil. "The God of peace will soon crush Satan under your feet. "The grace of our Lord Jesus be with you. "Timothy, my co-worker, sends his greetings to you, "as do Lucius, Jason and Sosipater, my fellow Jews. "I, Tertius, who wrote down this letter, "greet you in the Lord. "Gaius, whose hospitality I and the whole church here enjoy, "sends you his greetings. "Erastus, who is the city's director of public works, "and our brother Quartus send you their greetings. "Now to Him who is able to establish you "in accordance with my gospel, "the message I proclaim about Jesus Christ, "in keeping with the revelation of the mystery "hidden for long ages past, "but now revealed and made known "through the prophetic writings "by the command of the eternal God, "so that all the Gentiles "might come to the obedience that comes from faith, "to the only wise God "be glory forever through Jesus Christ! "Amen." Amen. Now, you might be reading all that and just like, "What was that? "What just happened? "What's the deal with all the names? "What's going on? "What does this passage have to do with anything?" Well, it has a lot to do with what we're talking about here. It has a lot to do with collaborating, co-laboring together in the Gospel to see the Gospel go out into the world. And as we think on these verses, I wanna show you three important truths about Gospel collaboration. The first one is this: collaboration is rooted in our unity in Christ. Collaboration is rooted in our unity in Christ. A couple of weeks ago, Pastor Jerry opened up this sermon series preaching on unity from John 17, where Jesus Himself, the night before He was crucified, prayed for the unity of all believers at that time and forever into the future. That was the first message of the series, and it was the first message for a reason. There's a reason that we started there. We started it there because that's where it all begins. It all begins in being united with Christ, because, friend, from the moment that you put your faith in Jesus Christ, His Holy Spirit comes to live inside of you and you are united with Him. And when you are united with Jesus, you are united with His church. Because if I'm united with Christ and he's united with Christ and she's united with Christ and all believers who trust in Jesus are united with Christ, then we're also united one to another. We are one body in Christ. We have unity in Him. Now, I know, I know that we don't always display that so well. Do we? I know that there are times where we fail at that. Sometimes we fail a little bit, sometimes we fail big time. But for all those who are in Jesus Christ, they have it. Paul tells us in Ephesians 4 that we have it and we are to maintain it. We are to walk in it. That means we have to purposely, purposely walk together in unity in Christ. And that's what Jesus was praying for in John 17. And since we already went through that, I won't rehash all of it, but I do want us to see that unity and collaboration, they go hand in hand. Unity and collaboration, they go hand in hand. But it's not like a chicken or the egg kind of situation where it's which one comes first? Unity in Christ is where it begins. Co-laboring, collaborating in the mission, it must be rooted in our unity in Christ. And throughout this entire letter, Paul is actually speaking toward unity. Throughout the entire letter, Paul is seeking to show that Jewish Christians and Gentile Christians, no matter where you are from, no matter what family you were born into, no matter what, we are one body in Christ because we belong to the one Savior and we all come to know Him. We all come into salvation by the one way that God has given, that is by grace alone through faith alone in Christ alone. That is the only way that we can be saved, and we all come into the one body of that Savior, Jesus Christ. It is all rooted in our unity in Christ. Throughout this whole section of greetings, Paul is constantly reminding them that they are in Christ, that this person is in Christ and that person is in Christ, and this person is in the Lord, and you are in the Lord. You see it all throughout these verses. These are all people who have trusted Jesus, these are all people who have believed in the Gospel, and therefore each and every one of them is united with Christ. You see, when Paul writes to the Romans, he's not writing to Christians who are all meeting in one place, in one local church. He says in chapter one that he's writing to the brothers and sisters who are in Rome. That's all the churches in Rome. That's all the believers in Rome, from one side of the city to another. He is writing to all of them, and he's saying, "We are all in Jesus Christ." See, here at The Chapel, we are one local church. right? We are one local church who is existing in this city. And there are several other local churches all throughout this city and all throughout the world, but we all have one Savior. For all Gospel-preaching churches, all who have trusted in Christ, we all have one Savior and we are rooted in Him. And because of that, we are on the mission, the same mission, together, to make Christ known. Here at The Chapel, you hear us talk about our mission a lot, right? You hear it in the announcements. You hear it in the sermons. You'll see it on the website. It's painted on the wall right outside of this worship center. We talk about it a lot. We say we are on this mission to ensure that every man, woman, and child has repeated opportunities to hear and see the Gospel of Jesus Christ. But what brings us together is not the mission. That's not what brings us together. That's not what it's rooted in. What brings us together is our Savior. What brings us together is that we are children of God through the one and only begotten Son of God, Jesus Christ. That's where it begins. Our unity is not rooted in what we do for Christ. It's rooted in who we are in Christ. And you have to remember that because if you forget about that, then you might fall into the thinking that actually you don't really have anything to do on this mission. Or maybe you think that, "If I'm, "if somebody's not not doing the right things, "if they're not doing what I'm doing over here, "then they're not together with me." But that's not where it's rooted. It's rooted in our unity in Christ, and that sends us on to the mission of Jesus, to see people from every tribe, tongue, and nation have an opportunity to hear the Gospel. When we miss that, we miss everything. We miss everything. Because when we miss that, we might find ourselves working alone rather than working in collaboration as the Lord calls us to do. Like me struggling to get my man Bernie to safety, right? And getting nowhere. Or when we miss that, we might find ourselves working together but not working with love for one another. You see, our love is rooted in our Savior. Our love is rooted in the love of our Savior that He has given to us and He has poured into us that we can give to others as well. But the Gospel of reconciliation is displayed when the church works together. See, we preach a Gospel of reconciliation, don't we? We preach a Gospel that Jesus Christ has come to reconcile us to God. That every person is a sinner separated from God, we are born sinners separated from God, but God Himself has done something by sending His Son to die for our sin and rise from the dead that we could be reconciled to Him, that we could have right relationship with Him. And when we are reconciled to Him, we are reconciled one to another. Working together, collaborating together, partnering together puts that Gospel on display. It puts the Gospel of reconciliation on display. And that's the second truth that I want us to see about collaboration. Collaboration is rooted in our unity in Christ, but collaboration displays the Gospel through the diversity of the people who are in Christ. Collaboration displays the Gospel through diversity. As we look through the list of greetings in these first 16 verses, we see an incredible amount of diversity that is happening in all of these names, all of these people that are listed in these greetings. We see a deacon of the church, a deacon of a church over in Corinth, in another place, who has carried this letter to the Romans, that's Phoebe in the first two verses. We see a deacon of the church and we see your regular everyday members of the church listed. We see well-known people like Priscilla and Aquila, who we see in the Book of Acts. We see Andronicus and Junia, who are said to be well-known among the apostles. And we see lesser-known people. We see names of people who we have no idea who they are. We see Greeks, we see Romans, we see Jews. We see men, we see women. We see slaves or former slaves, and we see free people. We most likely see rich and poor. We see people who were born and raised in Rome and we see people who we know were not from Rome, but have come into Rome. We see people who go to, some of them go to one local church in this person's house, and others go to another church in this person's house, and others go to another church in this person's house, all the way across town probably. And within all of this diversity of all kinds of ways, Paul is using these greetings to bring them all together, to show them that they are all one in Christ, to help them see one another as being one body working together. Whether they have this high status or this low status, whether they go to church here or there, whether they're Greek or Roman or Jew or whatever it may be, Paul is trying to help them to see, the Lord has made us one people and He has called us to work together on one mission for Kingdom advancement. And he's not just helping them to see that, he's helping them to live it out. Notice what Paul does in this greeting section. Notice what Paul does. You can miss it if you're not paying careful attention. Paul never greets them. Paul never greets anyone in all those verses. You think I'm crazy because we just read a whole lot of greetings, right? But Paul never greets them. Look at what he does. He tells them to greet one another. He tells them, he tells the readers of the letter to greet these people. "Greet Priscilla and Aquila. "Greet the church that meets at their house. "Greet Epenetus, greet Mary. "Greet Andronicus and Junia. "Greet, greet, greet, greet, greet." He's telling them to do it. But look at what happens in verses 21 through 23. "Timothy, my co-worker, sends his greetings to you, "as do Lucius and Jason and Sosipater, my fellow Jews. "I, Tertius, who wrote down this letter, "greet you in the Lord." Tertius is the scribe who is writing for Paul. "Gaius, whose hospitality I and the whole church here enjoy, "sends you his greetings. "Erastus, who is the city's director of public works, "and our brother Quartus send you their greetings." They are sending their greetings, but Paul says, "You greet one another. "You greet these people." There's a difference because Paul is not just trying to show off all the people that he knows. He's not just trying to show how popular he is, and he is not just trying to greet them. He is trying to bring them together as people who are united in Christ and people who are on the same mission together in the same city. Paul is trying to get the diverse believers in Rome to live out their unity in Christ and work together on mission. And he wants them to do it in love. And of course in verse 16, he explicitly says, "Greet one another with a holy kiss." That is greet one another with warm affection. Don't just say hi and move on. Don't just move past the person. Show your care for one another. Now, sometimes people get a little hung up on verse 16. Right? "The Bible says, 'Greet one another with a holy kiss.' "Why don't we do the holy kiss thing at church anymore?" Well, my friend, if you are hung up on that question, you're probably the reason why we don't do it anymore. Okay? I'm just gonna leave that right there for you. If that hangs you up, you're the reason. Moving on. In telling them to greet these people, Paul is telling them, "Listen, all of you are believers, "all of you are gospel workers, "all of you are disciples and disciple makers, "and I want you to be in this work together "because in your diversity you put the Gospel on display, "in your diversity "you show that Jesus saves people with any background, "in your diversity you show that Jesus saves people "with all kinds of stories "from all different walks of life." People who look this way and people who look that way, people who vote this way and people who vote that way, people who do this, that, and the other thing, all of them, Jesus is able to save, and He does save. In your diversity, you put the Gospel on display. But secondly, not only do you put the Gospel on display, but you recognize that everyone has something unique to offer. Everyone has something to offer toward the mission of making disciples. It's not just you, Jack. It's not just you that is able to do the work that God calls us to do. He calls all of His people to do it, and that means He equips all of His people to do it. And we are to do it all together. Now, you may say, "You know, Dan, this all sounds nice. "It all sounds nice "that everybody is supposed to take part in that. "But really, I have nothing to offer. "I'm," you might be thinking, "I'm nothing special." And maybe you're not. Despite what your mom told you, maybe you're not. I don't know. But it's not about whether you are special or not. It's about the Lord who lives in you. You know what's special about you? Is that the Holy Spirit lives inside of you. Is that you've been saved by grace through faith by the God of the universe, by Him sending His Son for you. And you might think, "Listen, I don't really know what I'm supposed to do here. "The pastors are doing fine, you know. "The leaders in the different ministries, "they're doing fine. "I don't really know what I'm supposed to do." But you have a part to play. Let me show you a little bit about, a little bit about how this might look. All right, you're out in your front yard. And you meet some neighbors on your street. They're walking their dog by, they're doing whatever. You meet some neighbors on your street. You get into a little conversation with them. And you're kind to them. Maybe you're the only person who's ever talked to them on the street in the neighborhood, who knows. But you're kind to them. At some point you tell them you're a Christian, and that you go to church down the road. And they go home and they say, "You know, that couple, they were really nice. "I mean, they're weird Christians, right? "But they were really nice "and maybe we will pass by that way again." And so they do, they pass by that way again, and you talk with them. And maybe you could share a little bit about your story. And maybe they don't relate to it at all. Maybe they're like, "This person has, "their background is nothing like mine. "Yes, they needed Jesus; maybe I don't, you know." Maybe that's what they're thinking about you, but you continue to build some relationship there. Maybe you get to share the Gospel with them. Maybe you invite them to church and they actually show up. And the whole family shows up here on a Sunday morning and they walk in the door and they're met with smiling faces and warm greetings from some of our greeters. And they go, "Wow, I wasn't really expecting that "when I walk into church. "You know, that was really nice." And then they're brave enough to drop their kids off in the kids' ministry the very first week they come. And they walk in and they drop their kids off and their kids, they meet their teachers and hear about Jesus from them. They make some other little friends and they hear about Jesus from them, too, and see that something is different about their families. And then as the parents are out in that common area of Chapel Kids, they meet two or three other couples and they get to know them a little bit. They have some conversation with them. And then they come into the worship center and they hear stories from people getting baptized, stories from all walks of life, people who have been saved from all sorts of things. People who have been in this thing and that thing and the other. People who are from other nations. People who are young and old. People of all sorts of walks of life. And they say, "Wow, there's a lot of people "who have really been affected by this Jesus guy." And they walk out. Maybe they stop at the connection center. Maybe they get a little more connected. Maybe they come to a women's conference or a men's retreat. Maybe they join a community group. Maybe they just sit in the atrium and somebody approaches them. Do you see all the different ways, all the little bitty ways that we can work together in welcoming someone in, in introducing them to the Gospel? In each of those things, they hear a little bit more about Jesus, or they see something else about Jesus, or they meet another person who's more like they are, or at least were before they knew Jesus, and they see that they've been changed. And they see all these different things in all these different areas. And maybe they never come back to this church. Maybe they go to another one down the road and they start to see it some more. And they start to see like, "Man, this is all one thing." And in each of those things, something has contributed to their understanding of Jesus. Each of those people has contributed to their understanding of Jesus, who He is and what He does. This is the kind of story that a lot of us have. Probably just about any one of us who believes in Jesus has this kind of story in some kind of way, right? There were multiple people that were along the path who kind of introduced you in. I know for me, it was the older ladies who taught my Sunday School class when I was a little kid who first introduced me to the Gospel. It was my dad who led me to the Lord. It was my friends, Rob, Nick, and Steve, who when I needed to get away from the wrong crowd, they brought me in. They were a little bit older than me and they started showing me what it looks like to walk in Christ in high school. It was my youth pastor, it was the other men at church who showed me what it meant to be a man who follows Christ, whether just by their example or speaking it into me. It was my friends, John and Katie, who really poured into me a heart for the nations. It was my church there in Baton Rouge where they went that really deepened my love for the nations and seeing the Gospel go out into all the world. It was the Chinese believers that I actually led to the Lord who taught me what it means to live in true community. Its people, even today, people that I still pour into who are also showing me more about what Jesus does in people's lives and more about who Jesus is and how to walk in Him. Because I'm still being formed today, and so are each one of us. And as we are being formed, we are called to walk together, to be discipling one another and to be sending the Gospel out into the world together. You see how it all works together, right? You see how everyone has a part to play. Everyone is in Christ. Everyone who is in Christ are co-laborers in Christ. Maybe you're here today and you've come from another church. Maybe you've been to a couple different churches in your life, and each one of them played a part in your formation in Christ. Across this city, across the world, we have churches and ministries and other believers that we partner with here at The Chapel. Some of them we partner with formally. All of them, all who preach the Gospel, we partner with ultimately as we are united in Christ. We have other ministries we partner with who minister to refugees and people who speak other languages, ministries who encourage and pour into women who are in difficult situations, ministries who care for families whose kids are sick. People in Israel, people in Africa, in other places in the world, we are partnering together to see the Gospel go out into the world together. You know why? Because we know that we can't do it ourselves, and we know that God is glorified in seeing us partner together to send the Gospel out into the world. Next week we're actually gonna have Kingdom Come Sunday, a week from today. Several of our partners are gonna be here. They're gonna be set up out in the atrium. I wanna encourage you to be here. If you think about hitting that snooze alarm or turning that alarm off, you get yourself out of bed, okay? And you be here on Kingdom Come Sunday, and walk the atrium and talk to our partners, hear about what God is doing in other ministries, in other places in the world, in other places in our city. Hear about the people that some of your giving goes to their ministries to see the Gospel go out to the people they're reaching. Come to it, talk with them, encourage them and be encouraged by them. Next Sunday, Kingdom Come Sunday, make sure you are here meeting some of our partners. But friends, I want you to know this is what God calls us to do, is to collaborate with one another and with those who are in Him to see the Gospel go out into the world. Now, that doesn't mean that we collaborate with just anyone who claims Christ. There are many who claim Christ, but teach a false gospel. There are many who claim Christ, but they are talking about a Christ that is not the Jesus of the Bible. There are those things out there, and Paul speaks to that. He says, "For all that that we should be collaborating, "there are those we should not collaborate with." Look at what he says in verses 17 and 18. "I urge you, brothers and sisters, "to watch out for those who cause divisions "and put obstacles in your way "that are contrary to the teaching you have learned. "Keep away from them. "For such people are not serving our Lord Christ, "but their own appetites. "By smooth talk and flattery "they deceive the minds of naive people." We are to be on the watch. But when we link arms with those who are truly in Christ, God gives us victory. Look at what he says in verses 19 and 20. Everyone who has heard about your obedience, or, "Everyone has heard about your obedience, "so I rejoice because of you; "but I want you to be wise about what is good, "and innocent about what is evil. "The God of peace will soon crush Satan under your feet." I wanna tell you, I love that verse in the Book of Romans. It's the best promise that no one seems to know about in all of the Bible. It's the best promise that everybody seems to miss in all of the Bible. Look at it again, verse 20, "The God of peace will soon crush Satan under your feet." Notice, he's not saying that He's going to crush Satan under His feet. There is truth to that, but that's not what he's saying. He says, "The God of peace "will crush Satan under your feet." That means that God is doing the crushing of Satan. He is giving the victory over evil, but He is doing it through the church. He is doing it under the feet of His people. He is using His people, He is using His church to crush the strongholds of Satan in this world by bringing the good news of salvation into the world. He's doing that through His church. And I want you to know, when he says "under your feet," that's not singular you. That's plural you, okay? Southerner translation, He's gonna crush 'em under y'all's feet. Okay? Y'all laugh and giggle when we say y'all, but it's a theology issue, okay? That's all I'm saying. Y'all is better theology, and I just want you to remember that. But here's the thing. Don't go walking around thinking that you are going to accomplish the mission alone. Don't go walking around thinking that God can use you and only you and no one else. Just like I thought I was gonna save my man, Bernie, on that day in the canoe, you will soon find out that it takes collaboration to do what God calls you to do. It takes collaboration to move. And it moves faster. But here's the thing, we don't only collaborate for the pragmatic reasons of it. We do it for the ultimate reasons, because since collaboration displays the Gospel through diversity, we also see that collaboration is what is most glorifying to God. Collaboration, co-laboring for the Gospel is what is most glorifying to God. When we think about co-laboring for the Gospel, when we think about co-laboring for the Kingdom, it's not something that's optional. It's not optional to do it together. There's no option to do it alone. The Lord calls us to do it together. This is the way that God has chosen to work in the world, not just through a couple of individuals, but through a people. And look at what he says in verses 25 through 27. This is how he wraps up the whole Book of Romans, "Now to Him who is able to establish you "in accordance with my gospel, "the message I proclaim about Jesus Christ, "in keeping with the revelation "of the mystery hidden for long ages past, "but now revealed and made known "through the prophetic writings "by the command of the eternal God, "so that all the Gentiles "might come to the obedience that comes from faith, "to the only wise God be glory forever through Jesus Christ! "Amen." When we try to do it on our own, usually it's because we're trying to do it for our own glory. It's because we're trying to do it as somebody who is someone. But when we do it together, we're putting the power of God on display. And I know it's hard. I know it takes effort. I know that there are relationship issues. And I know that there are pride issues and capacity issues and all sorts of other issues that come up, but it is what God has called us to do. It is the way that He has called us to do it. And friends, this is how it works. It's because Jesus saves people. He saves people all over the world, people from all walks of life, people with all sorts of stories, and He calls us to come together and show who He is and what He does, together. I love hearing the stories, the great stories when we do baptisms, all the stories that come from all walks of life, the variety of kinds of stories and backgrounds that people have, but all of them pointing to the one Savior because He is the Savior who is never too far to save anyone. He is never too far from anyone. He is never too weak to save someone from the deep pit that they might find themselves in. He is the Savior who has come, and He has died and He is risen again, and He is ascended to the right hand of the Father, and He has done so for people from every tribe, tongue, and nation all over this world. He has done it for people from the east side and people from the west side. He has done it for people in Niagara County and Erie County and Western New York and upstate New York, and yes, even in New York City. Okay? He has done it for them too. He has done it for people with atheist backgrounds, Muslim backgrounds, Buddhist backgrounds, Hindu backgrounds, Catholic backgrounds, even church backgrounds who grew up but never even knew Jesus even though they were in the church. He does it for people from every background. He does it for people from New Orleans, for people from Buffalo, and yes, Bills fans, even people from Miami and New England, too. Okay? He does it for people from everywhere. People who are high in society, people who are low in society, any kind of diversity you can think of, Jesus can save them, and He does. He does save people from any kind of background. And friend, I want you to know, if you're here today and you have never met this Savior, you have never entrusted yourself to Him, you have never given Him your sin that you are drowning in, like my friend Bernie, if you have never given Him your life, today He stands ready. And He is calling you. He is calling you to place your faith in Him and be saved by trusting in Him. He saves you by His grace. He does it through your faith. But it's only in Christ alone. My friends, you are saved by a wonderful Savior. And when the Lord saves you, He uses you. He doesn't save you to sit on the sidelines. He saves you and He uses you. And you need to keep that in mind for two reasons. Two reasons. First, you need to remember it for yourself. You need to remember it for yourself. The Lord wants to use you. It might seem like small ways to you. It might seem like really big ways to people that you minister to. He wants to use you in some kind of way if you are a follower of Jesus. But second, you need to remember it about others as well. The Lord wants you to work with others who are in Him, and not on your own. Sometimes that means you join in on what somebody else is doing. Other times it means you take people along with you as you are doing the work that God calls you to do. But He calls us to do it together in some kind of way, and we need to remember that. That's why Paul wraps up this Book of Romans this way, "By giving glory to God." God has done something beautiful in this world, y'all. He has done something beautiful in this world, in that He has saved a people for Himself and He has brought us together as the church. People from every nation, every background, every status, every everything, He has brought them together as the people of God. He brings us together as the church to live in fellowship with one another and to make Him known together. And so as we go out in this world to make Him known, let's not do it under the false pretense that we can do it on our own, but let's partner together. Let's collaborate. Let's co-labor in order to see people throughout our city, people throughout our region and people throughout the world have repeated opportunities to hear and see the Gospel of Jesus Christ. Let's pray. If you're here today and you've never trusted in Christ, I wanna invite you to know this wonderful Savior. You might think, "This Jesus, He's not for me." Yes, He is. And you need Him. You need Him. We are all born sinners, separated from God because of our rebellion against Him. But He has sent a Savior so we can be reconciled to Him, so we can be made new and have new life in Him. Friend, you need this Jesus that I'm talking about today. If that's you today, we're gonna have some prayer partners up front. After we close out here, I wanna invite those prayer partners to come on forward. Come forward, if you wanna hear more about who this Jesus is, what He has done, and how you can know Him, come and talk with one of these prayer partners. Maybe you're here today and you already know Jesus, but you need to be reminded that the Lord is calling you to be on mission for Him. That the Lord wants to use you to make Him known in this world. Or maybe, maybe you need to be reminded that the Lord wants you to work with others to do so. Friends, our collaboration is rooted in our unity in Christ, it displays the Gospel through diversity, and it is most glorifying to God. And so He calls us to walk in that way. Lord Jesus, we are so thankful that You have come. You have made us one people by uniting us to You in Your death, in Your resurrection. And we know, Lord, that You are reigning over all. And we hold onto the promise that the God of peace will soon crush Satan under the feet of His church. As we move forward with the Gospel, Lord, and we make You known all throughout the world, all throughout our region, and all throughout our city, we hold onto that promise. Lord, help us to walk in it. We love You. It's in Jesus' name that I pray, amen.