The Final Chapter – Surrendering my Life to God’s Will

Hello friends and welcome to the last installment of our Book of Romans Series. Today we are exploring chapter Sixteen - The Final Chapter.

I commend you our sister Phoebe, a deacon of the church in Cenchrae. I ask you to receive her in the Lord in a way worth of his people and to give her any help she may need from you, for she has been the benefactor of many people, including me. (Verses 1 & 2)

Let’s condense some of these names so we can fit them all in this blog.

Greet:

• Priscilla and Aquila – Paul’s coworkers in Christ.

• Epenetus – Paul’s friend and the first convert to Christ in the province of Asia.

• Mary – a hard worker

• Andronicus and Junia – Paul’s fellow Jews who have been in prison with him.

• Ampliatus – Paul’s friend in the Lord.

• Urbanus – Paul’s coworker and friend of Stachys.

• Apelles – whose fidelity to Christ has stood the test.

• Aristobulus and household.

• Herodion – another fellow Jew.

• Narcissus and household.

• Tryphena and Tryphosa – women who work hard in the Lord.

• Persis – Paul’s friend and another woman who has worked very hard in the Lord.

• Rufus – chosen in the Lord and his mother who has been a mother to Paul.

• Asyncritus, Phlegon, Hermes, Patrobas, Hermas and the other brothers and sisters with them.

• Philologus, Julia, Neeus (and his sister), Olympas and all the Lord’s people who are with them.

Greet one another with a holy kiss. All the churches of Christ send greetings. (Verse 16)

I love this. Here is the names of some of the first believers in Christ. How awesome. I wonder how it feels to have lived some of your life not being forgiven for your sin and being a slave to the law and then, after Jesus’ death, be completely free from sin.

I urge you, brothers and sisters, to watch out for those who cause divisions and put obstacles in your way that are contrary to the teaching you have learned. Keep away from them. For such people are not serving our Lord Christ, but their own appetites. By smooth talk and flattery they deceive the mind of naïve people. Every has heard about your obedience, so I rejoice because of you; but I want you to be wise about what is good, and innocent about what is evil. (Verses 17-19)

This is still true today. There will be people who try to put stumbling blocks in your walk with Christ. Don’t let them deceive you, don’t be naïve, and:

Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is – his good, pleasing, and perfect will.

Romans 12:2

The God of peace will soon crush Satan under your feet. The grace of our Lord Jesus be with you. Timothy, my co-worker, sends his greetings to you, as do Lucis, Jason and Sosipter, my fellow Jews. I, Teritus, who wrote down this letter, greet you in the Lord. (Verses 20-22)

He mentions Timothy! How have I never noticed that before. Sorry, I have a soft spot for the relationship of Paul and Timothy from reading 2 Timothy as well as reading Beth Moore’s Entrusted book.

Gaius, whose hospitality I and the whole church here enjoy, sends you his greetings. Erastus, who is in the city’s director of public works, and our brother Quartus send you their greetings. (Verses 23 & 24)

Now to him who is able to establish you in accordance with my gospel, the message I proclaim about Jesus Christ, in keeping with the revelation of the mystery hidden for long ages past, but now revealed and made known through the prophetic writings by the command of the eternal God, so that all the Gentiles might come to the obedience that comes from faith – to the only wise God be glory forever through Jesus Christ! Amen. (Verses 25-27)

There it is my friends, the entire book of Romans! It’s bitter-sweet that we are done with this series, but don’t worry; we will be doing more books of the Bible soon. But as for now, I want to get back to normal blogs because I’ve been doing a lot of series lately. I will be back Monday with a new posting schedule. I will be posting only Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays to make room for obligations I have in my life as of now. The posting schedule will change as my life changes. I hope you guys are okay with the new posting schedule.

Smile my friends. I don’t know about you, but I have learned a lot from this series and I hope you have too. Today I surrender to God’s will for my life. I know that may, on the surface, seem not to fit in this chapter but it is a good way to end this series where I add my word surrender. And in a way it does fit here because of the verse that inspired this series that I snuck into this chapter.