From the Pulpit...

Paul saw his ministry as producing an acceptable offering consisting of saved Gentiles through the gospel and the Spirit (Romans 15:16-18). These two factors--the gospel and the Spirit--were critical to the acceptability of the sacrifice. Any offering to God apart from the gospel and the Spirit is unacceptable, like an idolatrous sacrifice on a high place in the OT. The reason that Paul could carry on this kind of gospel-offering ministry was that God had given him a grace gift to be a minister of the gospel. Paul therefore boasted in God, not in himself. With that attitude and God's work, His ministry was indeed fruitful over a large swath of the Roman empire. Paul strove to preach Christ where there was no gospel witness and to allow the churches he planted to carry on the work in their locale.