Romans 15 :: By Sean Gooding

Last week we looked at the importance of those that are stronger in our local churches not allowing preferences to come between us as a family. Once again, this is not an issue of doctrine but of personal preferences, even to things like smoking, alcohol consumption, and other things like eating meat and the like. Personal freedoms are not a sign of maturity; it is the way that we use or mis-use these freedoms that make the difference.

Verse 1-6: We are to lead the way if we are strong. Each of us is to take responsibility for a neighbor. We are to be actively edifying each other, building each other up. Too many spend their spiritual lives looking down their noses at others and simply tearing them down. The only way that they can feel good about themselves is to tear someone else down, and we get this idea that if you don’t serve God like me, then you are not saved, or at least you may be saved, but you are not a mature one. This is crazy. Jesus, we are told in Psalm 69:9, bore our sins, bore our shame, and bore the wrath that we deserved. All that we do, we should do to glorify God, and if we do so faithfully, we will also build each other up.

Paul then springboards to let these Jewish believers know that the Gospel is for everyone, Gentiles included. The Jews in Rome needed to know that the Gospel was not just for them but for the Gentiles as well.

Verses 9-13, Paul lays out that the Gentiles are going to serve God as well, and he did it using Old Testament verses so that there were no disputes. Yes, the Old Testament told of the Gentiles and that the Messiah would reign over them as well and that they would worship Him.

I work in the car business, and I learned a while ago that Volvo invented the 3-point seat belt and that this was such an important discovery that they gave it to the other manufacturers for free. We should have the same mindset about the Gospel; it is so important that all need to get it for free. I am sure that these few Christian Jews in the Middle East could probably not envision a day when the new churches that they were seeing birthed would be populated almost entirely by Gentiles. But here we are 2,000 years later, and now the Gentiles are sending missionaries back to the Jews.

Verses 14-21: Paul was a pioneer of missions. He went to Rome, hoped to go to Spain, and we know that he was very active in Macedonia and other Greek cities. Paul set the idea of traveling in groups; he often had a large entourage with him. He worked secular jobs when needed, sacrificed his own needs, and built church after church all across Europe. Paul made time to write reports, to return and report to the church in Jerusalem, and made home wherever God placed him; he could fit in anywhere. He was always looking for a way to share the Gospel.

Is your church active in mission work? Are you financially supporting missionaries? Do they visit your church and share what God is doing worldwide? We could learn a lot here. Are we always on the lookout to share the Gospel; do we have a Gospel radar working all the time? Never forget that it is a privilege to be able to share the Gospel.

Verse 25-29: Don’t forget where the Gospel came from. Salvation is of the Jews. Jesus is a Jew, the apostles were all Jews, the Patriarchs are Jews, and Jesus is coming back to rule from Jerusalem. On and on we can go, but the truth is the same. Our salvation, the one that we Gentiles cling to, is a Jewish one, with a Jewish Messiah and a Jewish Savior, and we are never to forget where it all came from. Pray for Israel, pray for her peace, and that the blind Jews will have their eyes opened before it is too late and that they will see Jesus the Messiah; that they would repent, see Him as the One, and trust in His death, burial, and resurrection.

seangooding@yahoo.ca

Dr. Sean Gooding
Pastor of Bethany Baptist Church
70 Victoria Street, Elora, Ontario

 

29 July 2026

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US military shoots down Iranian missiles, strikes Iran-backed groups in Iraq
“All Iranian missiles were successfully intercepted. US forces remain vigilant and on high alert,” Centcom writes on X. The military did not specify where the attack took place. The United States has bases in several countries in the Middle East that have been the target of Iranian attacks during the war. Centcom and the Saudi military later carried out attacks on “Iran-backed terrorists” at several locations in eastern Iraq overnight Wednesday that had been used to attack American targets and Saudi infrastructure.

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The Russian capital, Moscow, was attacked by more than 390 drones during the night of Tuesday, according to the city’s mayor, Sergei Sobyanin. In a post on Telegram, Sobyanin writes that most of the drones were destroyed before they reached the city. According to the Kyiv Independent, there are reports that a steel mill near Moscow has been hit.

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With next round of Lebanon talks set for Aug 4, Israel concerned Lebanese Army not fulfilling its role 
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Hitler’s house gets a new life as his ideology gets new followers: Nazism, Amalek, and Palestinianism
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AI blunder: Canadian politician reads chatbot prompts during speech
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The Erasure of History and the Changing of Historical Memory
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No Pickaxe Mountain, no Turkey F-35s: Netanyahu hails ‘excellent’ Trump talks
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Fragile Iran ‘Pause’ Shattered As US Base In Jordan Comes Under Attack, Oil Soars
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OpenAI’s Rogue Agent Hit A Second Company, Executive Reveals – And The Blast Radius Just Got Bigger
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Detroit Gets Drafted: Ford And GM Head Back To The Battlefield
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Americans long knew that their elections were in embarrassingly poor shape, but President Donald Trump’s address this month revealed just how extensive the problems had become. The Trump administration’s investigation revealed foreign interference and deep-state, treasonous subterfuge.

New Biden Tapes Reveal Hur’s “Well-Meaning Elderly Man” Had An $8 Million Motive To Keep Classified Docs
Joe Biden kept classified material after leaving the vice presidency, knew what it was, and read it aloud to a civilian with no security clearance who was helping him write a book he was paid $8 million for. He said as much on tape, repeatedly, in 2016 and 2017. The Justice Department had those recordings and kept them from the public for two years – the same two years it was prosecuting Donald Trump for mishandling classified documents.

A 7.1 magnitude quake hits Japan’s southern Kyushu island, killing at least 3
A 7.1 magnitude earthquake shook Japan’s southern main island of Kyushu on Tuesday, leaving several people dead and dozens of others injured or missing after part of a shopping center and a huge chimney at a paper factory collapsed, officials said. A tsunami advisory was issued but quickly lifted.

The Huge Earthquake in Japan Is Another Example That Shows the Pacific Ring of Fire Is Roaring to Life – Is California Next?
The Pacific Ring of Fire is extremely active this year. About 90% of all global quakes occur there. Those killed by the 7.1 quake in Japan were living their lives like normal when disaster suddenly struck. The entire West Coast of the US also sits directly along the Pacific Ring of Fire, and scientists openly acknowledge the clock is ticking.

Iran Launches a Surprise Attack on U.S. Forces, and Israel Stands Ready to Start Launching Strikes on Iran’s Energy Infrastructure
At the end of last week, many believed a major escalation with Iran was imminent, but Trump decided to give diplomacy another chance. He wants this war to end, but Iran will never give Trump the nuclear concessions he’s seeking, and commercial traffic will never be allowed to flow freely through the Strait of Hormuz like before the war…”

DARPA’s Prometheus: When computer models, not symptoms, become the basis for quarantine
In 2016, DARPA launched the programme to develop a test predicting whether a person will be contagious from an infectious disease within 24 hours of exposure, before symptoms. It represents a broader shift in DARPA’s biotech portfolio toward using computer models & predictive analytics rather than symptoms; this raises questions.

Abdul El-Sayed’s Fundraising on Private Charter Yachts for Islamic Charity Linked to Muslim Brotherhood Surfaces
Muslim Michigan Senate hopeful Abdul El-Sayed did four fundraisers in 2019 for Muslim Brotherhood-linked nonprofit Islamic Relief USA on private yachts. They took place in DC, Miami, Chicago, and NYC. He supports Islamic terrorists and “Civilization Jihad,” things that Michigan voters should run from.

Conquered from Within: Massachusetts’s Muslim Commission Initiative to Recommend Muslims for Appointed Positions Across the State
Massachusetts has formed a Muslim Commission Initiative that would actively put Muslims in political positions of power throughout the state. It would give them preferential treatment and further not only Sharia law but censorship against Islamophobia. It is discrimination in the extreme.

Mexican government tries to implement biometric registration for mobile phones; millions don’t comply, and the government backs down
1 July was the deadline for Mexicans to register all of the estimated 158 million mobile phone pay-as-you-go SIM cards using their personal biometrics as identification. Non-compliance meant the SIM card would be disconnected and unusable. But the Mexican government’s policy was defeated by millions of ordinary people who didn’t comply.

Iranian regime’s UK charity is allowed to sponsor “skilled workers” to migrate to the UK
The Islamic Centre of England, a London-based charity accused of being part of the Iranian regime’s propaganda machine, is licensed by the UK Home Office to sponsor visas for “skilled workers” and religious ministers. Despite being under investigation for its alleged ties to Tehran, the organization remains an officially licensed sponsor.