15. But I have written to you very openly about some things that I wanted you to remember. I did this because God gave me this special gift:
16. to be a minister of Christ Jesus to the non-Jewish people. I served God by teaching his Good News, so that the non-Jewish people could be an offering that God would accept—an offering made holy by the Holy Spirit.
17. So I am proud of what I have done for God in Christ Jesus.
18. I will not talk about anything I did myself. I will talk only about what Christ has done through me in leading the non-Jewish people to obey God. They have obeyed God because of what I have said and done.
19. And they have obeyed God because of the power of miracles and the great things they saw, and the power of the Holy Spirit. I preached the Good News from Jerusalem all the way around to Illyricum. And so I have finished that part of my work.
20. I always want to preach the Good News in places where people have never heard of Christ. I do this because I do not want to build on the work that someone else has already started.
21. But it is written in the Scriptures:“Those who were not told about him will see,and those who have not heard about him will understand.” Isaiah 52:15
22. That is why many times I was stopped from coming to you.
23. Now I have finished my work here. Since for many years I have wanted to come to you,
24. I hope to visit you on my way to Spain. I will enjoy being with you, and you can help me on my trip.
25. Now I am going to Jerusalem to help God’s people.
26. The believers in Macedonia and Southern Greece were happy to give their money to help the poor among God’s people at Jerusalem.