1. God's grace to Paul (14-22)

God called Paul out of his life of persecuting the Lord. He gave Paul much grace. He made this terrible sinner a minister of Christ Jesus and sent him to bring the good news to the Gentiles. He saw his task as a priestly duty-to make the Gentiles an acceptable offering to the Lord. Because of this, Paul had boldly preached the gospel all over. But he wanted to go and preach somewhere new, where the gospel was unknown. Paul truly wanted to fulfill Jesus' world mission command-to preach the gospel to all nations. We too have been called by God and given His grace to be shepherds. This is our priestly duty.

2. Paul's plan to visit Spain (23-33)

Paul really wanted to preach the gospel in Spain, where no one had yet been. He would go through Rome to get support for his journey. But first, he had to visit Jerusalem to deliver an offering to the poor saints there. But there was danger there. So Paul asked for prayer support from the believers in Rome.