Good morning to everyone. It was a gorgeous morning, hey, driving down here, we're enjoying the leaves and the sunshine, good to see the sun. Fall's a beautiful time, I just get a little frightened about what comes next, you know. 

Well we find ourselves this morning in the last chapter of this great letter to the Romans. We've been studying the Book of Romans for our communion services the last many months and are coming to the end of this tremendous epistle. The last chapter of Romans is very interesting to me. In the first 16 verses that we're studying this morning, we find a long list of names as Mark read very well, I'll try to do as good as Mark did. It's something that might be easy to sort of skip over and disregard and just see them as closing words by Paul, not a lot there. 

However, I think it's a fascinating look into the life and ministry of Paul. A ministry that was in a real time, a real place, in a most pivotal time in the outworking of the salvation plan of God and a ministry that was about real people. Real ministry is about real people. Sometimes I think this is easy to forget as we as believers in Jesus Christ can get lulled into a sort of going through the motions, a routine of church, Bible study, the cares of this life and the world. 

It makes me think of Jesus' rebuke of the church in Ephesus in Revelation chapter 2. They were sound in doctrine, they were exercising discipline, casting out false teachers, holding fast to the truth, by all appearances a solid biblical church, but they had forgotten the whole point. They had left their first love. 

Do you remember when you were first saved? When you came to understand your sin by the Word of God? When you saw the grace of God, the greatness of the Savior and His love for you? When you turned to Jesus in faith and God recreated you, gave you a new heart and a new spirit and He poured His love out into your heart? How overwhelmed we were, how amazed at the truth of the gospel, how thankful and full of worship for our God. 

And what was the immediate thought that we had when all of this began to sink in? What was the first thing we wanted to do? Tell others. Share this good news with our loved ones, with our friends and neighbors and co-workers and the guy at the gas station and anyone who would listen. 

Our first love is Jesus, but His love is poured out through us to others. We were so excited, so anxious to love others and tell them about Jesus and the salvation He offers to everyone who will believe. In the beginning of our faith, we didn't know much about doctrine. We didn't know much about theology. But we had an encompassing, overwhelming desire, a love for people because God loves people. 

That's why Jesus came and, my friends, that's why He left us here in this world, to love people, to encourage the brethren, to share the good news. But sometimes, somehow, along the way, we can forget this essential truth. The Christian life can become about programs or about defending our theology or system or we can just become so caught up in the cares of the world, the routine of life, that we forget that real ministry is about real people. 

That the mission that God has for us, the reason that He has saved us, is to love one another, to help each other, and to bring others to the saving knowledge of Jesus Christ. So this look into the life and ministry of Paul, this mention of real people who were involved in his life, whom he loved so dearly and ministered together with, this is a reminder to us of our need for each other, of our dependence on one another, of our common goal and mission, and of the great love and fellowship we share together and the profound message that we have for the lost. 

Real ministry is about real people. Let's read our text together again, Romans 16 at verse 1. 

"I commend to you Phoebe, our sister, who is a servant of the church in Sincrea, that you may receive her in the Lord in a manner worthy of the saints and assist her in whatever business she has need of you, for indeed she has been a helper of many and of myself also. 

Greet Priscilla and Aquila, my fellow workers in Christ Jesus, who risked their own necks for my life, to whom not only I give thanks, but also all the churches of the Gentiles. Likewise greet the church that is in their house. 

Greet my beloved Eponidas, who is the firstfruits of Achaia to Christ. Greet Mary, who labored much for us. Greet Andronicus and Junia, my countrymen and my fellow prisoners, who are of note among the apostles, who also were in Christ before me. 

Greet Amplius, my beloved in the Lord. Greet Urbanus, our fellow worker in Christ, and Stachas, my beloved. Greet Apelles, approved in Christ. Greet those who are of the household of Aristobulus. 

Greet Herodian, my countryman. Greet those who are of the household of Narcissus, who are in the Lord. Greet Triphina and Triphosa, who have labored in the Lord. Greet the beloved Persus, who labored much in the Lord. 

Greet Rufus, chosen in the Lord, and his mother, and mine. Greet Asenacritus, Phlegon, Hermas, Petrobus, Hermes, and the brethren who are with them. Philodulus, Julia, Nereus, and his sister, and Olympus, and all the saints who are with them. 

Greet one another with a holy kiss. The churches of Christ greet you." 

I've given you five points on your outline this morning. First, a passion for people. Second, help one another. Third, laboring in the Lord. Fourth, sweet fellowship. And fifth, a common goal. 

Well, Paul gives us a long list of names here of people who were part of his ministry along the way, people who helped him, who worked with him, who were imprisoned with him, who put their lives on the line for him, who opened their homes and resources to the work of the gospel. 

And they were all in this together. They had a like, precious faith, a sweet fellowship, a common goal, and were willing to sacrifice everything to bring the gospel to the world. And they did that to the Gentile world, as was the calling of Paul. 

Each of them, as each of us, have a story, a story of the grace of God in their lives, of the provision of God, the power of God to accomplish His will and purposes through them, of events, of amazing and exciting things that God did, of people that God reached through them. 

The first person that Paul mentions here is Phoebe, a special sister in the faith. He writes to the church in Rome to receive her, to welcome her in. He commends her to them. 

My friends, she's the one who carried this letter to Rome. Can you imagine this? What would your life be like? How would it be different, your understanding, your edification, if we did not have the book of Romans? I personally can't imagine it. As you know, I have a special fondness for this letter, the greatest doctrinal treatise ever written. 

And there were no hard drives, no cloud storage, not even a Xerox copy or a carbon copy. Paul wrote these words and then he gave this scroll to Phoebe and entrusted her to take it to Rome. The letter was written in Corinth. Phoebe was from Sancreia, a port city about nine miles from Corinth. She was part of the fellowship there, serving. 

He uses the word diakonos to describe her, where we get our word deacon or servant. She probably assumed the role of ministering primarily to women in the church, but certainly a very valuable and generous servant to Paul and to many. She was trustworthy and a sister in Christ who was to be received as they would receive Paul himself. 

It was a long and arduous journey to Rome, but she was trustworthy. The distance between these two cities is 930 miles. The extensive journey would have taken several weeks or even months, depending on factors such as weather conditions, road quality, and available modes of transportation. 

This was no small task, but Phoebe completed it successfully, delivering the letter to the church in Rome. And notice what Paul says in verse 2. He says that you may receive her in the Lord in a manner worthy of the saints and assist her in whatever business she has need of you. 

These words indicate that Phoebe had some business to attend to in Rome. The words speak of a practical matter that needed to be taken care of. And Paul says, you, the brothers and sisters in the church in Rome, assist her with her business. 

Yes, she was handling a very weighty spiritual matter and delivering the letter to Rome from Paul, and God was watching over her and her endeavors, but she also had some practical matters to tend to, and the brethren were to help her with this in any way they could. 

Perhaps someone in the church knew the person that she had business with in Rome, or someone in the line of work that applied, or in the government that oversaw these things. This is an interesting instruction to me. We are to help one another in all matters of life, to encourage, to strengthen, to work together, not just in the spiritual, but also in the worldly practical matters. We are to help each other. 

And Phoebe was a great example of this in the church, as Paul writes, she has been a helper of many, and of myself also. Well next in Paul's ministry we meet Priscilla and Aquila. 

Verse 3, greet Priscilla and Aquila, my fellow workers in Christ Jesus, who risked their own necks for my life, to whom not only I give thanks, but also all the churches of the Gentiles. Likewise, greet the church that is in their house. 

Turn over to Acts 18 with me, please. We meet Priscilla and Aquila in Acts 18. Acts 18 verse 1, after these things, Paul departed from Athens and he went to Corinth. And he found a certain Jew named Aquila, born in Pontus, who had recently come from Italy with his wife Priscilla, because Claudius had commanded all the Jews to depart from Rome. 

And he came to them. So because he was of the same trade, he stayed with them and worked, for by occupation they were tent makers. And he reasoned in the synagogue every Sabbath and persuaded both Jews and Greeks. 

Down in verse 18 we see that Paul sailed for Syria and Priscilla and Aquila went with him. They worked with Paul in his missionary journeys and Paul says even laid their neck beneath the axe for him at one point, apparently risking their own lives for his sake. 

In 1 Corinthians 16, 19, it says the churches of Asia greet you, Aquila and Priscilla greet you heartily in the Lord with the church that is in their house. They had a church meeting in their home. They were faithful ministers of Christ. 

It's interesting to think about how they may have met. It was tradition in those days in the synagogue for the men to sit on one side, the women to sit on the other side, and the men also sat organized according to their trade or their job. So it tells us, as we just read, that Paul and Aquila were tent makers and they likely met in the synagogue sitting together. Paul lived with them for 18 months. So they were very close, fellow workers in the ministry. 

He says, laboring for the Lord, just two more faithful servants in the life of Paul. Eponidas is the next in Paul's list, who was the first convert in Asia, modern-day Turkey. This is Asia Minor. He must have been a special brother, being Paul's first conversion after traveling to this important region. 

This was the region where Paul founded the churches in Ephesus, Smyrna, Thyatira, Philadelphia, Pergamum, Sardis, and Laodicea, the seven churches in the book of Revelation. We see the beginning of these churches back in Acts, and they encompass really a great part of our biblical history. 

Think about the church in Ephesus. Paul spent three years in Ephesus teaching, warning night and day, he said. He later left Timothy in Ephesus to set things in order and fulfill what was lacking. We see Ephesus in the letter in Revelation 2. The beginning of all of this was the conversion of a man named Eponidas, the first convert of Paul in Asia. 

He must have been a special man to Paul, as Paul thought back on his ministry. Remember when we finally made it to Asia and met Eponidas and shared the gospel with him and he came to faith and set that whole region on fire. 

Well, in the next several verses, Paul lists a lot of names, those special people that God brought into his life, who labored in the Lord, who labored much in the Lord, he says. Some were Jews, his countrymen, some his fellow prisoners. 

Can you imagine what kind of fellowship he had with those that he spent time in prison with who were persecuted because of their faith? Peter talks about the like precious faith that those who believe have in common. To us, Jesus is precious, Peter says. 

To us, the old is gone, the new has come, and now all things are of God. When we look at people, we do not see them for their appearance, their wealth, their possessions, or their status in this world. We see their spiritual condition, their need for a Savior, and we long to be a witness to have them come to faith in Christ. 

And this is why we have sweet fellowship in the Lord together. We are all brothers and sisters in Christ. I'm always struck by this when I meet believers from across the world. I think of someone like Augustine, or Philip Samuel, or Stephens. 

We are from totally different cultures, totally different environments, totally different political structures, predominant religions of our countries. The food is different, the music is different. When we meet, or when we have time together, there's still a sweet fellowship in Christ. 

We have the same concerns for the world, for lost men, for the church, for doctrine, for practice, for ministry. We have the same convictions about the Word of God. We have the same Holy Spirit living in us and the great desire to see men saved, to grow and to be equipped and to do the work of ministry. 

We have nothing else in common, but we have the strongest bond because of our faith in Jesus. And this is especially true for those who are partners with us in ministry, those who help and encourage and labor together with us to further the gospel of Christ, including the many missionaries that we support around the world. 

You know, we could each make a list like Paul's about our lives, our ministries, our partners and laborers for the gospel. And I think this is good to think about. Who's been right there with you all these years, running alongside you and helping and encouraging and forgiving and keeping you focused on Jesus? 

If I were writing a letter to our church from afar, I might say something like, greet Michael, a true brother in the faith. Greet Mark and Andrew and Don, my fellow laborers in the ministry. Greet Ron and Heidi and Ray and Debbie, who have been such a great encouragement. 

All these years. Tell Pastor Krenz I love him and I miss him, a true father in the faith. When I wrote this, I thought I'm not going to make it through this. Greet Guy when you see him, my true brother and fellow worker who traveled with me and encouraged me in ministry to India and who brought me to faith in Christ. 

And I could go on and on and on, as Paul sort of does here in our text, because, you see, real ministry is about real people. And we're all in this together. God has given to us brothers and sisters in Christ as gifts, as helpers, as teachers, as encouragers to make the gospel work flourish and bear fruit. 

We're all members of one body in Christ. Let's look at 1 Corinthians 12, verse 12. 1 Corinthians 12, verse 12. 

For as the body is one and has many members, but all the members of that one body being many are one body, so also is Christ. For by one spirit we were all baptized into one body, whether Jews or Greeks, whether slaves or free, and have all been made to drink into one spirit. 

For in fact, the body is not one member, but many. If the foot should say, because I am not a hand, I am not of the body, is it therefore not of the body? And if the ear should say, because I am not an eye, I am not of the body, is it therefore not of the body? 

If the whole body were an eye, where would be the hearing? If the whole hearing, where would be the smelling? But now God has set the members, each one of them in the body, just as He pleased. And if they were all one member, where would the body be? But now indeed there are many members, yet one body. 

And the eye cannot say to the hand, I have no need of you, nor again the head to the feet, I have no need of you. No much rather, those members of the body which seem to be weaker are necessary, and those members of the body which we think to be less honorable, on these we bestow greater honor, and our unpresentable parts have a greater modesty. 

But our presentable parts have no need. But God composed the body, having given greater honor to that part which lacks it, that there should be no schism in the body, but that the members should have the same care for one another. 

And if one member suffers, all the members suffer with it. Or if one member is honored, all the members rejoice with it. Now you are the body of Christ, and members individually. 

And my friends, in this one body, in this sweet fellowship, we have a common goal. God has given gifts in the church to accomplish His goal for us in this life. I want you to look at Ephesians 4.11 with me also, please. Ephesians 4.11. 

And He Himself gave some to be apostles, some prophets, some evangelists, and some pastors and teachers, for the equipping of the saints, for the work of ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ, till we all come to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to a perfect man, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ, that we should no longer be children, tossed to and fro and carried about with every wind of doctrine by the trickery of men and the cunning craftiness of deceitful plotting. 

But speaking the truth in love may grow up in all things into Him who is the Head, Christ, whom the whole body, joined and knit together by what every joint supplies, according to the effective working by which every part does its share, causes growth of the body for the edifying of itself in love. 

This is God's plan and purpose for the church. We come together for the Word, to worship, to hear, to receive, and eagerly anticipate the preaching and teaching of the Word of God, for the express purpose that we might be changed, that we might grow and become more Christ-like and effective in bearing fruit for God's glory, and as a witness to men. 

We studied this in James 1 on Thursday night. I just want to look at that passage real quick in James 1 at verse 19. James says, So then, my beloved brethren, let every man be swift to hear, slow to speak, slow to wrath. For the wrath of man does not produce the righteousness of God. 

Therefore, laying aside all filthiness and overflow of wickedness, receive with meekness the implanted Word which is able to save your souls. 

Be doers of the Word and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves. For if anyone is a hearer of the Word and not a doer, he is like a man observing his natural face in a mirror. For he observes himself, goes away, and immediately forgets what kind of man he was. 

But he who looks into the perfect law of liberty and continues in it, and is not a forgetful hearer but a doer of the work, this one will be blessed in what he does. 

All of these verses are set in the context of verse 21. Receive with meekness the implanted Word which is able to save your souls. James tells us to be swift, eager to hear the Word of God. To be cautious, careful in speaking and teaching it. To receive with gladness, to know and believe it and obey it. 

To be doers of the Word. And notice the promise in verse 25. He who looks into the perfect law of liberty and continues in it, and is not a forgetful hearer but a doer of the work, this one will be blessed in what he does. This is just what Paul's getting at in Ephesians 4. 

We come together in this place to hear the Word, to sing the Word, to thank and ponder on the Word, and to receive it for ourselves. To take it and believe it and obey it. And this process, week after week, in our own study, in Bible studies, in church, in rolling it over in our minds, in having conversations together, speaking words necessary for edification, in all of this we are growing together. 

We are being equipped to then go out into this world and do the work of ministry. This is what Paul's ministry was all about. He taught day and night in Ephesus for three years in order to prepare them. He continued in the doctrine. He boldly preached the gospel. He started churches and built up believers and witnessed to the lost. 

And all the while he had his fellowship of believers surrounding him, helping him, encouraging him, and rejoicing as well as suffering with him. Without people, without fellowship in Christ, without the great bond between believers, the like precious faith, the common goal and purpose, the same spirit, none of this would be possible. No ministry would excel and be fruitful. 

Paul had all these people, his fellow laborers. We have each other here at Living Hope Church. God has given us this place, this commission, the gospel, and he's given us each other. We're all in this together. Jesus is our head. He is our sufficiency. He is our focus. We are to believe Him, look to Him, hear Him, and we are to love one another. 

These are the commands of the new covenant, and these are the things that truly matter. I'm thankful for each one of you. I'm thankful to God for this church, this fellowship, and I am thankful to God for the indescribable gift that He has given to us in the person and work of His Son. 

It is because of Jesus that we have a common bond, a common faith, a common purpose. Paul said it so well in 2 Corinthians 5. I'd like you to turn to 2 Corinthians 5 as we close. Mark read part of this this morning. 

Let's begin up in verse 7, 2 Corinthians 5, 7. 

For we walk by faith, not by sight. For we are confident, yes, well pleased rather, to be absent from the body and to be present with the Lord. Therefore we make it our aim, whether present or absent, to be well pleasing to Him. 

For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ that each one may receive the things done in the body according to what he has done, whether good or bad. Knowing therefore the terror of the Lord, we persuade men. But we are well known to God, and I also trust are well known in your consciences. 

For we do not commend ourselves again to you, but give you opportunity to boast on our behalf that you may have an answer for those who boast in appearance and not in heart. 

For if we are beside ourselves, it is for God. Or if we are of sound mind, it is for you. For the love of Christ compels us, because we judge thus, that if one died for all, then all died. 

And he died for all, that those who live should live no longer for themselves, but for him who died for them and rose again. Therefore, from now on, we regard no one according to the flesh, even though we have known Christ according to the flesh, yet now we know him thus no longer. 

Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. Old things have passed away, behold, all things have become new. Now all things are of God, who has reconciled us to himself through Jesus Christ and has given to us the ministry of reconciliation. 

That is, that God was in Christ reconciling the world to himself, not imputing their trespasses to them, and has committed to us the word of reconciliation. 

Now then, we are ambassadors for Christ, as though God were pleading through us. We implore you on Christ's behalf, be reconciled to God, for he made him who knew no sin to be sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in him. 

Jesus wept when he looked at the crowds. He cried out when he looked over the city of Jerusalem and lamented that they would not come to him and be saved. God desires that all men come to the knowledge of the truth and be saved, that no one would perish. 

This is the heart, the love of God for men. May God teach us to love men like he loves men, to give ourselves for them, to sacrifice, to show the love of Jesus and lead them to faith in him. Real ministry is about real people. Help us not to leave our first love, to forget what Jesus has done for us, and help us to love people like Jesus loves people. 

Let's close in prayer. 

Father, we thank you for the gift of salvation. We thank you for Jesus. We thank you for your faithfulness to us, that you're our Father. Thank you that you care for us, that you work out the details of our life. Thank you for our fellowship and the Word and the people here, Lord. Thank you for the work that you have for us to do. In Jesus' name we pray, amen.