“Yea, so have I strived to preach the gospel, not where Christ was 
named, lest I should build upon another man’s foundation: But as it is
written, To whom he was not spoken of, they shall see; and they that 
have not heard shall understand.” (Rom. 15:20,21). In Romans 15:6 it 
is stated “That ye may with one mind and one mouth glorify God, even 
the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ.”  The way we do this is by ever 
having a desire to see the gospel preached to the whole wide world. 

  1. This is one of the points made in the Old Testament scriptures. 
“For whatsoever things were written aforetime were written for our 
learning, that we through patience and comfort of the scriptures might
have hope.” (Rom. 15:4). We learn from the examples of the Old 
Testament Scriptures and we also learn from their prophecies. Those 
prophecies include the fact that the Gentiles could be saved. “And 
that the Gentiles might glorify God for his mercy; as it is written, 
For this cause I will confess to thee among the Gentiles, and sing 
unto thy name.” (Rom. 15:9; Ps. 18:49). Other passages giving hope to
the Gentiles are quoted in Romans 15:10,11 and then Isaiah’s prophecy
is given that the root of Jesse would arise and reign over the Gentiles
and in Him would the Gentiles trust (Rom. 15:12; Isa. 11:1,10). Paul 
was the apostle to the Gentiles ministering to them the gospel 
(Rom. 15:16). All Christians should be about the task of carrying the
gospel to the entire world and not spending their time disputing over
the personal opinions of men, which are not worth anything to the 
saving of souls.

  2. With the burden of people’s souls on our hearts we will carry out
these admonitions: “We then that are strong ought to bear the
infirmities of the weak, and not to please ourselves. Let every one 
of us please his neighbor for his good to edification.” (Rom. 15:1,2). 
We will be trying to get along with other Christians so that we will 
be a good example to the world. Also we will try to be good to our 
non-Christian neighbors so they will listen to the gospel and be 
influenced to obey Christ. It changes the attitude of the Christian 
toward the whole neighborhood when he sees the people as souls that 
need saving. Just like Paul we will be doing all we can to see that 
the gospel gets out to these neighbors and friends.

  3. The attitude of the Christian is that every soul has more right 
to hear one gospel lesson than any soul has the right  to hear two. 
In other words we want to do our best to reach all men. Paul said he 
always strived to preach the gospel where Christ had not been named 
(Rom. 15:20). He preached where others had been but he sought to reach
out to men who had never heard it before. He was a planter while others
watered. (I Cor. 3:6). He preached from Jerusalem to round about 
Illyricum so much that he could say that in all these places he had 
“fully preached the gospel of Christ (Rom. 15:19). Christ is coming.
We do not know when. The time could be short, so let us reach out to
a lost and dying world. If it should be that Christ is a long time 
coming still the lives of people are short. For all practical purposes
when one dies there will not be another opportunity for the gospel to 
be preached to that person. We should not want any to die without 
Christ so let’s see that everyone knows his duty. The Gentiles need to
be made obedient “by word and deed” (Rom. 15:18).

  4. It was also Paul’s desire that these new Gentile converts should
realize that they had an opportunity and a responsibility to send a
contribution to the needy saints of Jerusalem and Judea. He said, 
“For it hath pleased them of Macedonia and Achaia to make a certain 
contribution for the poor saints which are at Jerusalem. It hath 
pleased them verily; and their debtors they are. For if the Gentiles 
have been made partakers of their spiritual things, their duty is also
to minister unto them in carnal things.” (Rom. 15:26,27). By the 
giving of this gift they would prove the sincerity of their love for 
the Lord. Paul intended to deliver this gift and then go to Rome and 
from there on to Spain to preach the gospel. He did go to Jerusalem 
but he was arrested and it was two years later that he went to Rome 
as a prisoner (Acts 21-27). We do  not know if he ever made the trip 
to Spain. From his prison epistles and letters to Timothy and Titus 
he was released from prison after his first trial but later arrested
again and this time was executed somewhere around 68 A.D. He did 
preach to the lost everywhere he was and that is what we also should
do. 

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