Romans 15 Round Two: Overflowing With Hope

What if the deepest freedom is found in choosing restraint for someone else’s good? Walking through Romans 15, we unpack a countercultural vision of community where the strong carry the weak, love shapes our liberties, and harmony grows in the gray areas. Rather than “me first,” Paul calls us to a better way: welcome one another as Christ has welcomed us so the whole church can lift one voice in praise.

We also dive into Paul’s missionary heartbeat and why he aims for places where Christ has not been named. He refuses to boast in personal wins and instead points to what Christ has done through him—by signs, by service, and by the Spirit’s power. Along the way, we trace his practical plans: delivering relief to Jerusalem, hoping for Rome, and dreaming of Spain. The twist? He reaches Rome in chains, reminding us that God’s purposes often advance through detours. Delays, obstacles, and unexpected turns are not dead ends; they are reroutes that place the Gospel exactly where it needs to be.

This conversation offers clear guidance for today: let love set the boundaries of your freedom, hold convictions with humility, and trust God with outcomes you can’t control. We share modern examples—from alcohol to everyday preferences—that test whether we value people over personal rights. And we pray Paul’s words over you: that the God of hope would fill you with joy and peace in believing, so you overflow with confident hope by the power of the Holy Spirit.

If this encouraged you, follow the show, leave a rating or review, and share it with a friend who needs fresh hope. Join our Facebook group “Bible Breakdown Discussion,” and subscribe to the weekly newsletter at brandoncannon.com to keep growing with us. What step of loving restraint will you take this week?

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The More We Dig. The More We Find.

Scripture quotations taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation (NLT).
Copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation.
Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.

Chapters

• 0:00 Welcome And Theme: Hope
• 0:54 Community And Listener Calls To Action
• 2:12 Recap Of Romans And Big Picture
• 4:04 Harmony In Gray Areas
• 7:58 Overflowing Hope Through The Spirit
• 10:32 Modern Examples Of Selflessness
• 14:19 Paul’s Mission And Method
• 16:18 Travel Plans And Jerusalem Offering
• 18:07 Arrest, Detours, And Trusting God
• 19:28 Application, Prayer, And Closing

Transcript

SPEAKER_00: 0:00

Welcome to the Bible Breakdown Podcast. Every day, we take one chapter of the Bible, dig deeper, and discover that the more we dig, the more we find. You can find out more at the BibleBreakdown.com. Now let's grow in God's Word together. Hello, everybody. Welcome back to the Bible Breakdown Podcast with your host, Pastor Brandon. Today, Romans chapter 15. And if I could give this one a title, it would simply be Overflowing with Hope. The idea of overflowing with hope. We're going to see today is the Apostle Paul is going to talk about what it looks like to live in the light of being with others, which is a lot of what he had to say yesterday. He's going to talk about the reason why he's writing this letter to the church at Rome. And then he's going to finish up with talking about his itinerary, his travel plans, and hopefully getting around. Just going to talk about the idea of how we do all these things through hope. We're going to have a good time today. But before we do that, as always, if you like what we're doing here, make sure you like, sharing, and subscribing to this on the YouTubes. Leave us a comment on how you're interacting with this message. Also, if you are a podcast listener, you are still my favorites. I love you. I love you so much. Make sure you are leaving us a five-star review. Also, leave us a comment on how you are being blessed by this. And then the rally point for all of us is we're going to the Facebook group, Bible Breakdown Discussion. And man, they're doing just a wonderful job over there. And so make sure you are going there and leaving us some of the ways that you're interacting with God's Word. Because man, the more we dig, the more we find. And speaking of that, as I'm constantly digging through things and preparing things, I put some of my favorite resources that I find every week into a newsletter I send out on Saturday mornings. And so if you would like that sent to your email inbox, you can go to my website at brandoncannon.com. And right there at the top, you can subscribe to the weekly newsletter, and I will send you my favorite devotion of the week. You know, which chapter did I really get the most out of and what you know my interaction with it was, and then some of the resources from different things. And so if that interests you, brandoncannon.com, go to the newsletter and we will go through that together. Okay. Well, if you get your NLT Bible, want to get it open and get it set, get your coffee topped off so you can do that. I want to catch you up on what we're doing as we are just about to finish with this amazing gospel. So the Apostle Paul has not been to Rome yet, but he's sending this letter on ahead of him. He's getting ready to go, but he is going ahead and he is doing what he normally would have done, which is normally he would have gone into a synagogue, which is a Jewish church, and he would have gone in there and he would have started talking to them about the gospel. And then after that, he would go and talk to the Gentiles and just really spreading the good news of God everywhere. But he is doing it this way, this time, and he is sending ahead the message he would normally preach. And the overall idea of the book of Romans is this amazing thing that the creation was made by a wonderful creator. And that creator came to us and rescued us. And he talks about what that looks like. And so chapter one, two, and three is all about the mess we got ourselves in. That we as a human creation, you know, being created by God, we're his creation. We fell into sin, couldn't save ourselves. God shows us what that perfect reality would look like in Romans 3 by giving us the law, to which we all say, Great, not gonna be able to do that. Sounds like we need a savior. So that's what chapter 4, 5, and 6 is all about. It's about receiving the good news, which is that Jesus Christ came to wash away all of our sin. And then he washes away our sin, makes us clean. But then chapters 7 and 8 talks about it's an ongoing battle to walk toward freedom every day now that we've received Him, but we have no condemnation, can never be separated from the love of God. Nine and 10 talk about how as we have received, we should reach out to give others the gospel that God has given us. And then 11, 12, 13, and 14 talk about what it looks like to live in a Christian community with one another. Now, in this one, chapter 15, he's gonna spend the first half of it kind of finishing off that idea of what it looks like to live with a bunch of people who are Christians, but still crazy. You know, that's one of the things people don't understand. And I'll be honest with you, I don't understand either. Is in my mind, it's not true, but I have in my mind that when someone gives their life to Christ, they get saved. They've allowed Jesus to wash away all their sin. In my mind, they're no longer a jerk, they don't have any problems anymore. God has saved them, so they're perfect now, right? No, that is not true at all. Our soul gets saved, but no one hits a restart button on our mind, will, and emotions. Those things have to be disciplined, have to be, you know, put back together from the broken places that we find ourselves. And so it's a long walk toward freedom. The good news is we're starting that long walk toward freedom. So the journey we have toward that freedom takes a lifetime. That's why I think sometimes people get hurt in church is because they expect everybody in church to be fully mature in Christ. And that's simply not true, including the guy up on stage. We all have different growth rates as we are growing toward Christ every day. Do you know it's possible that there's likely sin in your life right now? But because God knows you're not ready to take that step to get it out of your life, that he's so patient with you, that he's gonna work on another area in your life. And then at some point when you're ready to take that step, he'll reveal that to you because he only reveals what he intends to heal. And then there's other times when he seems like he's always dealing with things, and so we have different growth rates. And that's what Paul is gonna talk about is what does it look like to live in the reality of knowing that we're all in different places in our life, and so when we're strong, we need to be strong for those who are weak, and then when they're strong, they'll be strong for us and our weaknesses. And so let's dive into this Romans chapter 15, as Paul just kind of finishes up this idea on what it looks like now that we know Christ, how do we live in harmony with one another? He says this, starting in verse one. We who are strong must be considerate of those who are sensitive about things like this. Things like this, by the way, he's talking about yesterday, where some people consider something to be sin, some people don't. And so we have to find that balance with one another. Here we go, pick up again. We must not just please ourselves, we should help others do what is right and build them up in the Lord. Verse three, for even Christ didn't live to please himself. As the scriptures say, the insults of those who insult you, O God, have fallen on me. Such things are written in the scriptures long ago to teach us, and the scriptures give us hope and encouragement as we wait patiently for God's promises to be fulfilled. May God, who gives this patience and encouragement, help you live in complete harmony with each other, as is fitting for those who follow Christ. Then all of you can join together with one voice, giving praise and glory to God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. Therefore, accept each other just as Christ has accepted you, so that God will be given glory. Remember that Christ came as a servant to the Jews to show that God is true and the promises he made to his ancestors. He also came so that the Gentiles might give glory to God for his mercies to them. That is what the psalmist meant when he wrote, For this I will praise you among the Gentiles. I will sing praises to your name. And in another place it is written, Rejoice with his people, you Gentiles. And yet again, praise the Lord, all you Gentiles, praise him, all you people of the earth. And in another place, Isaiah said, The heir to David's throne will come, and he will rule over the Gentiles. They will place their hope in him. I pray that God, the source of hope, will fill you completely with joy and peace because you trust him. Then you will overflow with confident hope through the power of the Holy Spirit. Pause for a moment. What Paul just said is that God Himself will give you this peace and this joy to do what he just said, and it's going to help you overflow with confident hope. What did he just say to do? He said, live for others, not just for yourself, and give grace to others. Now, once again, this makes sure we understand Paul is not saying that we don't call out sin among our brothers and our sisters, that we we laugh at things that are wrong and all this. He's saying in the gray areas. If there's an area where someone is weak, they're struggling with the sin, we don't separate from them. We lean into them and we help them and we grow with them. And so it's in the great areas of life that we have grace for one another and we don't live for ourselves, but we live realizing we're part of a community. That's why it's so important, especially in our culture today. We have people who say a lot about, you know, I'm gonna do me. You know, they say it like this, I'm gonna do me, and you do you. You know, I'm gonna live for myself. I'm gonna put number one as number one. I put myself as first. Can I tell you how dangerous that is? If you live only for yourself, eventually you're gonna find yourself on an island. Because when you do that, you make an idol out of your self-interest alone. And that's a dangerous way to be. I've talked to people who have, you know, we've we've talked about things at church, and one of the things we do in our church is in no environment do we have any alcohol. We have we have an alcohol-free environment always. And we've had people who've said, well, Pastor, I don't think it's a sin to have a glass of wine here, there, and everywhere. You know, whatever. I'm I the Bible says to not get drunk, but it doesn't say we can't have a drink. So I don't think that's right. Well, you know what I tell them? I say, you know what? In your world, at your home, maybe. But you know what? There's a lot of people in our church who have struggled with alcoholism. They have family members who have died due to alcohol poisoning. There's there's all these things. And so because you don't live on your own on an island, we live in a community. We're asking you to live in a community, which is if it makes your brother stumble, then we're not gonna do that when I'm around my brother. And if you have a problem with that, well then ask yourself why. Why does it bother you to not do something for a short amount of time in order to bless somebody else? It sounds an awful lot like selfishness to me. And that's the reason why we do this, is because I'm not just living for myself, I'm living in a community. You know, no one will say that when they're on the road. If you're on the road and you're driving, no one wants everybody to live for themselves. Otherwise, who would ever stop at a stop sign? Who would stop at a traffic sign, you know, or traffic light? No one would do any of that. No, we want people to abide by the rules of the road so we can all get where we're going. The reason why we abide by God's word, and the reason why we are careful in the gray areas is number one, because God's told us to. And number two, because I don't want my freedom to cause someone else to stumble. So can I have a glass of wine at dinner? Some would say you could. But if I'm in an environment where some people struggle, then I give up that right because of my love for that other person. And then they do the same for me. And I'm just using the idea of alcohol as an example. You could use so many of these. And there's a balance there, of course. But I think so many times we look for extremes and not for balance. And that's what Paul is saying is he's saying when we do this and we make room in the gray areas for one another, that it actually fills us with confident hope. All right, let's pick back up again in verse 14. The Bible says, I am fully convinced, my dear brothers and sisters, that you are full of goodness. You know these things so well, and you can teach each other all about them. Even so, I have been bold enough to write about some of these points, knowing that all you need is this reminder. For by God's grace, I am a special messenger from Christ Jesus to you Gentiles. I bring to you the good news so that I might be present with you in an acceptable offering to God, made holy by the Holy Spirit. So I have reason to be enthusiastic about all Christ Jesus has done through me and in service to God. Yet I dare not boast about anything except what Christ has done through me, giving the Gentiles to God by my message and by the way that I have worked among them. They are convinced by the power of miraculous signs and wonders, and by the power of God's Spirit, and in this way I have been fully presented, or I have fully presented the good news of Christ from Jerusalem all the way to Elysium. My ambition has always been to preach the good news where the name of Christ has never been heard, rather than where the church has already been started by someone else. I have been following the plan spoken of in the scriptures where it says, Those who have never been told about him will see, and those who have never heard about him will understand. In fact, my visit to you has been delayed so long because I have been preaching in these places. So what Paul is saying is the reason why it has taken me so long to come see you guys is because I have this special desire to go and preach the gospel to people who've never heard it before. That's that's the work of a missionary in a lot of ways is to go and spread the gospel to people who've never heard. And he's saying the reason why is because that's just what's burning inside of me, and that's why it's taken so long to get there. All right, let's finish this up. He's going to tell us his itinerary, and we're going to pray together. Here we go, verse 23. But now I have finished my work in these regions, and after all these long years of waiting, I am eager to visit you. I am planning to go to Spain, and when I do, I will stop off in Rome. After I have enjoyed your fellowship for a little while, you can provide for my journey. But before I come, I must go to Jerusalem to take a gift to the believers there. For you have eagerly taken uh I got lost, verse 26. For you see, the believers in Macedonia and Achaia have eagerly taken up an offering to the poor among the believers in Jerusalem. They were glad to do this because they feel they owe a real debt to them. Since the Gentiles received a special blessing of the good news from the believers in Jerusalem, they feel the least they can do in return is to help them financially. As soon as I have delivered this money and completed this good deed of theirs, I will come to see you in my on my way to Spain. And I am sure that when I come, Christ will richly bless our time together. Which, by the way, if you've read the book of Acts with us, this is possibly the time when Paul is on his way to Jerusalem, where he will eventually be arrested, and he'll get to Rome, but he'll get to Rome as a prisoner instead of the way he had planned. He never ends up making it to Spain. Verse 30. Dear brothers and sisters, I urge you in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ to join in my struggle by praying to God for me. Do this because of your love for me and given to you by the Holy Spirit. Pray that I will be rescued from those in Judea who refuse to obey God. Pray also that the believers there will be willing to accept the donation that I am taking to Jerusalem. Then, by the will of God, I will be able to come to you with a joyful heart, and we will be an encouragement to each other. And now may the God who gives us peace be with you all. Amen. So, what can we take from all of this that Paul is saying? We can really put this into three sections. The first section, where Paul is finishing up this idea of what it is to live together in harmony in the gray areas, that I don't live to please myself. Because of what Christ has done in me, I now live to be a blessing to others. That's a big, big difference in the culture we live in that says you gotta you gotta put yourself first. Jesus says, Because of me and because I take care of you, you can put other people first. The second section is he's talking about, hey man, I'm so sorry, it's been a while. You know, it's been a hot minute since I told y'all I was gonna come and I didn't. Reason why? I've been busy spreading the good news. And then he talks about how I'm gonna come, but first I got to go to Jerusalem. And the reason why that's a big deal for us is we know that he does go to Jerusalem and he does get to Rome after that, but he does in chains as opposed to at this triumphant moment. And so what can we get from this? To realize that God is using us or wants to use us to do more than we realize, but it's often gonna look a little bit differently than we expect. First of all, when he said that we live to serve others, not the other way around, many times people think that they're gonna make a difference because they're gonna push their agenda forward, and that's how they're gonna make a difference. Many times the biggest difference you make is not in pushing your agenda forward, but in serving the agenda of others. By serving others and letting God make the difference. The second thing, he was talking about why he was delayed. God had a plan for his life, and he wanted to get there. But often the way you get there looks different than what you think. And then him saying, These are my plans. I'm gonna go to Jerusalem, gonna give them this gift, and then I'm headed your way. Yeah, Paul, you're gonna get there, but it's going to look different than what you think. And so here's the question I have for you today. Are you willing to follow God wherever he leads? Maybe God is leading you to take a position of a servant in an environment right now where maybe you just never thought of it like that before. Then instead of going into that environment looking to see who can serve you, you walk into that environment seeing who you can serve. Maybe that's in your home life, your work life, church life. Maybe God is leading you to take the position of a servant. Maybe you've got these wonderful plans. You want to finish college and start a family or start your career or whatever. Maybe it's to say, God, I know these are the plans you put in my heart, but I trust you to do it your way. And so I believe you're so much in control of my life that if it doesn't look like what I think it's gonna look like, that doesn't mean you're saying no. It just means you're saying it's going to be different. What exactly is it that God's saying to you today? Well, in just a moment, we're gonna give you a chance to reflect on this. But first I want to pray for you, and I'm looking forward to hearing in the comments below and on our Facebook group what God says to you in this chapter. Let's pray together and we'll finish up for today. Father, thank you so much for your goodness, your mercy, your kindness. Thank you that you are with us in all things. Lord, my prayer today is you'll help us to realize that you are with us more than we can imagine. And because you're with us, sometimes you ask us to take steps of faith that don't always seem normal or common. Sometimes you ask us to serve when we could very easily lead. Sometimes you ask us to trust you when plans don't seem to take a direct path. My prayer today, God, is we won't put our hope in others as much as we put our hope in you. And because of that, we'll let you lead us into all truth. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen. Amen. Well, my prayer for you is that this verse will be real for you because God's word is true. And it says in Romans 116, I am not ashamed of the good news about Christ. Why? Because it is the power of God at work, saving everyone who believes. Hope you have a great day. I love you. I'll see you tomorrow for the grand finale of Romans chapter sixteen.