Romans 15:14-29

14My Christian friends, I myself am completely sure that you are always good. You know everything about God's message, so that you are able to teach one another what is right.

15I know that is true, but I still needed to write this letter to you. I have written to you strongly, so that you would remember certain things. Because God is kind, he has chosen me to serve him in this way.

16I am a servant of Christ Jesus among the Gentiles. I tell people God's good news. I work like a priest so that God will accept the Gentiles. I offer them to God. The Holy Spirit has made them clean and so God accepts them.

17So I can be proud about my work. I can serve God well because I belong to Christ Jesus.

18But I will only speak about the work that Christ has made me able to do. I have lived among the Gentiles and I have spoken God's message to them. They have obeyed God as a result of Christ's work through me.

19God's Holy Spirit used his power to do many miracles. He caused many great and powerful things to happen. As a result, I have told the whole good news about Christ to many people. I have told it while I travelled all the way from Jerusalem to Illyricum.

20I want to go to places where nobody has ever told people about Christ before. I want to tell the good news to people in those places. That is what I have always wanted to do. I do not want to work in a place where someone else has already started to teach God's message.

21This is written in the Bible about God's Messiah: ‘Those people that nobody ever told them about him will now see. Those people who have never heard about him will now understand.’

22That is why, many times, I have not had a chance to visit you.

23For many years I have been waiting for the chance to come. But now I have finished my work in these places here.

24So I hope to visit you while I am travelling to Spain. I will stay with you in Rome for a short time. I will really enjoy having some time together with you there. Then you can help me to continue my journey.

25But now, I am ready to go to Jerusalem to help God's people there.

26Some of them are poor, and the Christians in Macedonia and Achaia wanted to help them. So they got some money to send to those people.

27The Christians in Macedonia and Achaia were happy to share what they had. But really, they have a duty to help the Jewish Christians in Jerusalem. It is the Jews who shared good things from God to help the Gentiles in their spirits. So now the Gentiles ought to help the Jewish Christians with things that they need for their bodies.

28So I must take their gift safely to the Christians in Jerusalem. When I have finished that job, I will come to visit you. Then I will continue my journey to Spain.

29When I visit you, I know that Christ will bless us very much while we are together.