Romans 15:1-16

Now, those who are mature in their faith can easily be recognized, for they don’t live to please themselves but have learned to patiently embrace others in their immaturity. Our goal must be to empower others to do what is right and good for them, and to bring them into spiritual maturity. For not even the most powerful one of all, the Anointed One, lived to please himself. His life fulfilled the Scripture that says: All the insults of those who insulted you fall upon me. Whatever was written beforehand is meant to instruct us in how to live. The Scriptures impart to us encouragement and inspiration so that we can live in hope and endure all things. Now may God, the source of great endurance and comfort, grace you with unity among yourselves, which flows from your relationship with Jesus, the Anointed One. Then, with a unanimous rush of passion, you will with one voice glorify God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. You will bring God glory when you accept and welcome one another as partners, just as the Anointed One has fully accepted you and received you as his partner. I am convinced that Jesus, the Messiah, was sent as a servant to the Jewish people to fulfill the promises God made to our ancestors and to prove God’s faithfulness. And now, because of Jesus, the non-Jewish people of the world can glorify God for his kindness to them, fulfilling the prophecy of Scripture: Because of this I will proclaim you among the nations and they will hear me sing praises to your name. And in another place it says: “You who are not Jewish, celebrate life right alongside his Jewish people.” And again: Praise the Lord, all you who are not Jews, and let all the people of the earth raise their voices in praises to him. And Isaiah prophesied: “An heir to David’s throne will emerge, and he will rise up as ruler over all the non-Jewish nations, for all their hopes will be met in him.” Now may God, the fountain of hope, fill you to overflowing with uncontainable joy and perfect peace as you trust in him. And may the power of the Holy Spirit continually surround your life with his super-abundance until you radiate with hope! My dear brothers and sisters, I am fully convinced of your genuine spirituality. I know that each of you is stuffed full of God’s goodness, that you are richly supplied with all kinds of revelation-knowledge, and that you are empowered to effectively instruct one another. And because of the outpouring of God’s grace on my life to be his minister and to preach Jesus, the Anointed One, to the non-Jewish people, I have written rather boldly to you on some themes, reminding you of their importance. For this grace has made me a servant of the gospel of God, constantly doing the work of a priest, for I endeavor to present an acceptable offering to God; so that the non-Jewish people of the earth may be set apart and made holy by the Spirit of holiness.