because it's not confusing, and then they hit other cities, Lystra, Derbe, in here before returning back to Antioch, right? They do take a trip down to Jerusalem and then back up before Paul and Silas go out on the second missionary journey, and they come up and they try to go into Asia, which is not the continent of Asia, it is you know, the region of Asia. And the Holy Spirit stops them and just prevents them from planting any churches here until they get the Macedonian call. And they get the Macedonian call, and they hop over into Europe, and they were planting churches up here in Macedonia, and they come down the peninsula into Achaia, which they end their missionary journey in Corinth. And then from Corinth, they head back over to Antioch. And then on their next missionary trip, they come back in and they are able to go into Asia. And it says in the two years that Paul spends at Ephesus, that the entire region of Asia hears the gospel. And then once he's done with his time there in Asia, he comes back up into Macedonia and he's confirming the churches and he comes back through, ends up in Corinth, where he's writing the letter right now to the Romans who are over here. And he's planning a missionary trip to go to Spain. So when Paul is on his missionary journeys that were here, if he needed something, he could write for it and ask for it and get it. If a church wanted to give to him, they could send it to wherever he was at. But when he's going to Spain, he needs that money up in front. He needs more support to be able to get there than what he had here. And so, well, not exactly. What we can see here is it's like the first planned foreign mission trip that you can see in the Bible. And from it, you can see four responsibilities that Paul writes to the church at Rome about their responsibility in supporting missions. The first responsibility that they have is to be sure of the calling of the missionary. verse 9 he's writing about this trip to Spain that he's going to take and he says the reason for it is that 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 and again he saith rejoice ye Gentiles with his people and again praise the Lord all you Gentiles and laud him all you people and again Isaiah saith there shall be a root of Jesse and he What he's saying is that he's getting his marching orders, his plans, not from his own thoughts and plans, but from God. It is God's will that they hear. And Paul does have his own desires in life, things that he wants to do. And he talks about in verse 20, he says, yea, so have I strived to preach the gospel, not where Christ was named, lest I should build upon another man's foundation. That was his goal in life, is to plant churches where nobody had planted them before. But even Paul's desires and dreams and goals in life were shaped by the word of God. He says, But as it is written, To whom he was not spoken of they shall see, and they that have not heard shall understand. His own desires to go and plant where nobody had heard before came because it was in the Word of God. He was not doing this based on his own desires and wills and plans. It was God who called him to do it. That's his point there. And further, it's not just that it's in the Word of God that it happened, but he puts proof that God specifically called him to this ministry. In verse 17 he says, I have thereof whereof I may glory through Jesus Christ and those things which pertain to God. For I will not dare to speak of any of those things which Christ hath not wrought by me, to make the Gentiles obedient by word and deed, through mighty signs and wonders, by the power of the Spirit of God, so that from Jerusalem and round about unto I Lyricum I have fully preached the gospel of Christ. He's saying, God has shown that he has called me to this by the work that he has done through me as I've already gone and preached. It was important that the missionary is called by God to go where they're going. There are so many missionaries that get on the field and they had these good feelings about things, but it wasn't God's call for them to be there. And as a church, you need to discern who has been called to get behind them. It is not our plan for missions that we're following. It is not our philosophies that guide us. It is the word of God and who the spirit of God says that you should be supporting, who it is that he has called into his work. You're not getting behind man's plan, but God's. And so the number one responsibility is to be sure of the calling of the missionary. The second responsibility actually has the least amount of space put in here, and that is to support the missionary financially. The only thing he says in verse 15 about the financial support is that I trust to see you in my journey and to be brought on my way thitherward by you. That's what he says about the financial support he expects to get from them. He basically expected that the church would support him. But in today's age in society, we have to go a little deeper. Because there are a lot of people that don't think that missionaries should be supported by churches anymore. I mean, you've heard of Barna. I mean, I know he has, you guys have ever heard a statistic in church about church things, it probably came from Barna. And he has said that the time of the white man going and telling the rest of the world about God is over. And that instead, you should find somebody in country doing the work and support them. Well, that's fine if that's God's plan instead of Barna's plan. The question isn't what we think we should do. It's what God thinks we should do. And it is a clear biblical precept that missionaries are supported by churches. So there at Corinth, we do know that Paul built tents. It's actually the only place for sure that we know that he worked while he was on his mission trip. It was there that he met Priscilla and Aquila and brought them and taught them. But what is interesting to me is in this one place that we know that he was building tents, it says that when Silas and Timothy met him, that he was pressed in the Spirit, and that from that point on, he wasn't building tents anymore. And I think it was when his money came with them. He no longer had the need to, but I can't prove that biblically. But he was pressed in the Spirit, and he was determined to know nothing among them save Christ and Him crucified. Further than that, we know from 2 Corinthians 11-18 that while he was at Corinth, he took money from other churches because he wrote there, I robbed other churches taking wages of them to do you service. We know the Philippian church supported Paul. He said in Philippians 4, 15, no church communicated with me concerning giving and receiving, but ye only. And those who say that a church is not supposed to support, they have a hard time with 1 Corinthians 16, 17 as well because after Paul leaves the church at Corinth after his first missionary trip and he's in Ephesus, The church at Corinth sends money to him to support him in his work there. It says, I am glad of the coming of Stephanas and Fortunatus and Achaus for that which was lacking on your part they have supplied. It is a biblical precept that churches financially support missions. So we have be sure of the calling, support them financially. And then the third responsibility that a church has is to give to special offerings. Now, a special offering is different from supporting the missionary in that it is the giving to the needs of ministering to the saints in places. See, in Palestine, there was a famine. and the church at Jerusalem was suffering because bad things happen in famines, right? And so Paul had heard about this, and as he's coming through Macedonia and Achaia, he is getting an offering from these churches. In fact, in 2 Corinthians chapter 8, as you're reading about that church giving to this offering, You'd be hard-pressed to think that they weren't forcing Paul to take it, because it was more than he thought that they should be able to give. They gave not out of an abundance. This was a poor area. But instead, they gave over and above by the grace of God, is what the Bible explains this giving. It was by grace that they gave. And they were taking this offering not because they were super rich and had a lot of extra, but because God laid it on their heart to do so. And he took up this offering and he's gonna be taking it to the church in Jerusalem. And this is not just general humanitarian aid. This is to give support to Christians in need. When I think of this modern day, I'm thinking of the fires that just happened a little bit ago in Hawaii. Our church supported the Browns in Hawaii. I guess support, not supported. And not only did the Browns' church burn down, their house burned down, and every single member of the church's house burned down. And they were all in just a refugee center, and the Browns are doing whatever they can to support them. And so our church took up a love offering to send to them to take care of as many needs as we could. And whether that's the fires or floods, hurricanes, wars, purchase of land or building project, this is about supporting the need of Christians somewhere else. And it is a biblical responsibility of a church. So you have, be sure of the calling, support financially, special offerings, and we've gone through the vast majority of the chapter. But the end of this chapter, while shorter, is really what Paul emphasizes. It's where his heart really is. He starts by saying, now I beseech you. Now, the word beseech is more than just ask. It's a more emphatic version of it. But really, you can think of Paul. He's down on his knees and he is begging this church. You might think that I'm just up here exaggerating. I'm into hyperbole because I'm a preacher, and preachers just like to exaggerate to make a point, right? I think you're going to see that that's not the case here, because not only does he say, I beseech you, you know, it's a more strong version, but then he says, for the Lord Jesus Christ's sake. Well, you know, we have this tendency to just read through that, but what does he, Lord Jesus Christ, why would you do anything for the sake of him? Well, without him was not anything made that was made. I mean, you would not have existence. You would not have the ability to have any good thing in your life without him creating it all. And then when he saw that you turned your back on him, he came down and lived as a man to take the penalty of a man and was tortured and mocked, beaten and died in your place. And then He rose again the third day to defeat death and hell so that you could spend forever and eternity in a new glorious body with Him forever. And not only did He do all that in the past, but even right now He's on the right hand of the Father making intercession for you. So when you think, for the Lord Jesus Christ's sake, that's not just a blow-by. But Paul did not think that that was enough of an emphasis. Because he goes on to say, and for the love of the Spirit. Now, I personally have a hobby horse or a soapbox about the Holy Spirit being under-emphasized in at least Baptist circles. I don't know if the Pentecostals were afraid to be like them and preach about the Holy Spirit, but the Holy Spirit is the lifeblood of a Christian who is really serving God. Without the Holy Spirit, anything that we do in this life is not worth doing. He is the only one making eternal difference. He would be the reason that you could overcome your sin. He is the one who, in Romans 8 says, is making groanings for us on our behalf, even if we don't know what to pray, which cannot even be uttered. It is the Holy Spirit who is the earnest money for your salvation, who seals you into the day of redemption. So Paul is begging, begging for the Lord Jesus Christ's sake and for the love of the Spirit. So what is he begging them for? That you strive together with me in your prayers to God for me. That word strive together with me, in the Greek it's one word and the literal meaning of it is to struggle as a company. So we're not talking about one person working there and another person working over there, or Susie up in Yankee, Iowa, and Johnny down here in Missouri, and the missionary in the field praying separately. This is about working together as a company, one division, like army terms, a company, moving forward with the same goal, working together. It's striving together. This is not just a passive exercise, but it is a work. Reminds me of what Paul said about Epaphras. in Colossians, there it is, in Colossians 4.12. He said, for the sake of the church at Colossae, that Epaphras was laboring fervently on their behalf in prayer. And it says laboring fervently, that literally meant to wrestle. He was wrestling in prayer on behalf of the church at Colossae. As we think about wrestling and prayer, you can't help but think of Ephesians 6, 12. For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities and against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness, and hide places. That is what our prayer is supposed to be doing. It is a spiritual warfare that we are waging against the principalities and the powers. Again, spiritual wickedness in high places. Other places, Paul likens this type of prayer to a man in the field toiling for his food. Or a soldier fighting for his life on the battlefield. This is the kind of prayer that Jesus sweat as it were great drops of blood. This is not merely financial support that Paul is begging this church for. He's begging them to pray. You know, a missionary, I can get to the Czech Republic and live there on missionary dollars. But if I don't have the support of prayer and the Holy Spirit in the work, it's not worth it for me to be there. Paul can make it to Spain and have it mean nothing if it did not have the power of God on it. And he is begging them, hey, when I get there, I need the power of God. Will you strive together with me? It is not the missionary's work in a country. Number one, it's God's work and it's all those laboring with him in it. It is the biblical responsibility of a church. I read a lot of prayer letters, and I shouldn't say this, but I judge them, so take note, on whether or not there are actual prayer requests in the letter. Otherwise, they are just reports. They're not prayer letters. And let me tell you, Paul doesn't disappoint here. He comes up and he has three things he asks for immediate prayer needs for. First, he asked that I may be delivered from them that do not believe in Judea. See, as he's heading from Corinth down to Jerusalem, he knows the Jews hate him and he knows they wanna kill him. So he asked for safety. But beyond that, the Jews who are Christians in Jerusalem, they're still bigoted and they hate the Gentiles. And so he's worried that because the money came from Gentiles that they're not going to take it. And so he asks, and that my service which I have for Jerusalem may be accepted of the saints. And then he finally asked that I may come unto you with joy by the will of God and may with you all be refreshed. I think it's kind of cool that as far as I can tell all three of them were answered. It may have been by the hair of his chinny chin chin on some of them. But It's not really the point. The point is you got to know what to pray for. You know, every missionary has things they need as prayer requests that are just general, right? We need safety. We need wisdom. We need the power of God and witnessing and open doors and to speak the gospel with utterance. I mean, there are things that we all need, but there are things that only I need. There are things that only he needs. Not every missionary needed to ask for protection from the Jews. Paul needed it. And when we were in Colorado and we had 50 missionaries that we supported in the church up there, and I thought I loved missions. I gave sacrificially and faith promised missions. I really looked forward to when we had missionaries in or prayer letters were being read and I could listen to those. And we'd take missionaries out when they came in. And then I went to teaching a class on a Wednesday and I wasn't gonna be able to hear when prayer letters were read. And I decided that the class that we were teaching for the kids class, I was going to make about missions. That we were gonna read a prayer letter, talk about a country, what the cultures are like and what the difference is, try to broaden the horizon of children because it can be very difficult for them to be out of their bubble. And so I started getting all the prayer letters and I started reading them all. And I realized, I thought I loved missions, but I didn't know my missionaries were. In fact, out of those 50, on any given day, I may have been able to name five of them. That's not a love of missionary. That may be a love of missions, but it's not the kind of love we're supposed to have. How well do you know your missionaries? Can you name them? Do you know their needs? We're in a pretty sorry state for missions in this country. There are more missionaries leaving the field than there are going on the field. One in four missionaries that starts deputation won't make it to the second term. The children of missionaries are often leaving. And while missionaries have a lot of responsibility with all of that, I'm not sure the church is holding up their end. See, when we had this new model of missions that we've gotten, when we started sending missionaries out again, what was said was, we will go over there as long as you guys are back here holding the rope. We've all heard the hold the rope, hold the rope, but the hold the rope doesn't mean write a check. I mean, that's part of it. Money is needed, right? We can't get around that. But holding the rope means begging God on their behalf. I heard an illustration, and I don't know the guy's name. I wish I did. But there was a missionary around the turn of the century in 1900-ish. He had been in India doing missions work for most of his life, buried a wife on the mission field. He remarried and on the way back to America to come back and report to churches on a furlough, his wife died on the passage. And in an age before social media, before email, before honestly you could send reliable mail that wasn't ridiculously expensive. His missionaries went around to churches and he said that each church, they asked about his children by name. I don't think that's what we're doing. I don't think we're holding up this most important end I mean it starts with knowing that the missionary is called to be there, and that's important. But it ends with your taking part in your calling to be there. You may not ever be called to go pastor, be a missionary, but you are called to be a part of missions in more than just your checkbook. but to be begging God for these missionaries. How are we doing? I know I was failing, and God's dealt with me, and I'm still trying to get better at it, but as we give to faith promise missions for our finances, how about we give a faith promise to give in our prayers? So how about it? Will you do that? Will you promise God to give, to fight the spiritual warfare and follow his plan to do so as this church? Lord, I thank you so much that you have given us the ability to come into your throne room, that we have access to the Lord of Lord and King of Kings. that, Lord, we can have your ear whenever we want it. Yet, Lord, we so often neglect that. Lord, we don't fight the spiritual battles. We don't even come before you and take time with our Father. Lord, I just ask that you would help us all to be the prayer warriors you intend for us, that we would all submit ourselves to your will and your plan and missions, and that we would be the prayer warriors that you want us to be, Lord. I pray this in Jesus' name. Amen.