They told Aaron, "Make gods for us who will lead us. This Moses who led us out of the land of Egypt we don't know what happened to him!'

Then he knelt down and cried out with a loud voice, "Lord, don't hold this sin against them!" After he had said this, he died.

Everyone from the least to the greatest paid close attention to him, saying, "This is what we call the great power of God!"

Before this, he had not come on any of them. They had only been baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus.

and said, "Give me this power too, so that when I lay my hands on someone, he will receive the Holy Spirit."

So repent of this wickedness of yours, and pray to the Lord that, if possible, your heart's intent may be forgiven you.

Now an angel of the Lord told Philip, "Get up and go south on the road that leads from Jerusalem to Gaza. This is a deserted road."

This was the passage of Scripture he was reading: "Like a sheep he was led away to be slaughtered, and like a lamb is silent before its shearer, so he does not open his mouth.

Then Philip began to speak, and, starting from this Scripture, he told him the good news about Jesus.

The Lord told him, "Get up, go to the street called Straight, and in the home of Judas look for a man from Tarsus named Saul. At this very moment he's praying.

But Ananias answered, "Lord, I have heard many people tell how much evil this man has done to your saints in Jerusalem.

He immediately started to preach about Jesus in the synagogues, saying, "This is the Son of God."

Everyone who heard him was astonished and said, "This is the man who harassed those who were calling on Jesus' name in Jerusalem, isn't it? Didn't he come here to bring them in chains to the high priests?"

But Saul grew more and more persuasive, and continued to confound the Jews who lived in Damascus by proving that this man was the Messiah.

This happened three times. Then the sheet was quickly taken back into heaven.

Cornelius replied, "Four days ago at this very hour, three o'clock in the afternoon, I was praying in my home. All at once a man in radiant clothes stood in front of me

He has sent his word to the descendants of Israel and brought them the good news of peace through Jesus the Messiah. This man is the Lord of everyone.

He also ordered us to preach to the people and to testify solemnly that this is the one appointed by God to be the judge of the living and the dead.

All the prophets testify to this: everyone who believes in Jesus receives forgiveness of sins through his name."

While Peter was still making this statement, the Holy Spirit fell on all the people who were listening to his message.

This happened three times. Then everything was pulled back up to heaven.

When they heard this, they calmed down, and praised God by saying, "So God has given repentance that leads to life even to gentiles."

When the church in Jerusalem heard this news, they sent Barnabas all the way to Antioch.

One of them named Agabus got up and predicted by the Spirit that there would be a severe famine all over the world. This happened during the reign of Claudius.

When he saw how this was agreeable to the Jews, he proceeded to arrest Peter, too. This happened during the Festival of Unleavened Bread.

Then the angel told him, "Tuck in your shirt and put on your sandals!" He did this. Then the angel told him, "Put on your coat and follow me!"

He motioned to them with his hand to be quiet, and then he told them how the Lord had brought him out of the prison. He added, "Tell this to James and the brothers." Then he left and went somewhere else.

The people kept shouting, "This is the voice of a god, not of a man!"

"Men of Israel and you who fear God, listen! The God of this people Israel chose our ancestors and made them a great people during their stay in the land of Egypt, and with a public display of power he led them out of there.

It was from this man's descendants that God, as he promised, brought to Israel a Savior, who is Jesus.

"My brothers, descendants of Abraham's family, and those among you who fear God, it is to us that the message of this salvation has been sent.

When the gentiles heard this, they began rejoicing and glorifying the word of the Lord. Meanwhile, all who had been destined to eternal life believed,

"Men, why are you doing this? We are merely human beings with natures like yours. We are telling you the good news so you'll turn from these worthless things to the living God, who made heaven and earth, the sea, and everything in them.

Even by saying this, it was all Paul and Barnabas could do to keep the crowds from offering sacrifices to them.

Paul and Barnabas had quite a dispute and argument with them. So Paul and Barnabas and some of the others were appointed to go up to Jerusalem to confer with the apostles and elders about this question.

So the apostles and the elders met to look into this claim.

This agrees with the words of the prophets. As it is written,

""After this, I will come back and set up David's fallen tent again. I will restore its ruined places and set it up again

They wrote this letter for them to deliver: "From: The apostles and the elders, your brothers To: Their gentile brothers in Antioch, Syria, and Cilicia.

Paul wanted this man to go with him, so he took him and had him circumcised because of the Jews who lived in that region, since everyone knew that Timothy's father was a Greek.

and from there to Philippi, an important city of the district of Macedonia and a Roman colony. We were in this city for several days.

She kept doing this for many days until Paul became annoyed, turned to her and told the spirit, "I command you in the name of Jesus the Messiah to come out of her!" And it came out that very moment.

He explained and showed them that the Messiah had to suffer and rise from the dead: "This very Jesus whom I proclaim to you is the Messiah."

The crowd and the city officials were upset when they heard this,

Some Epicurean and Stoic philosophers also debated with him. Some asked, "What is this blabbermouth trying to say?" while others said, "He seems to be preaching about foreign gods." This was because Paul was telling the good news about Jesus and the resurrection.

Then they took him, brought him before the Areopagus, and asked, "May we know what this new teaching of yours is?

For as I was walking around and looking closely at the objects you worship, I even found an altar with this written on it: "To an unknown god.' So I am telling you about the unknown object you worship.

because he has set a day when he is going to judge the world with justice through a man whom he has appointed. He has given proof of this to everyone by raising him from the dead."

When they heard about a resurrection of the dead, some began joking about it, while others said, "We will hear you again about this."

After this, Paul left Athens and went to Corinth.

For I am with you, and no one will lay a hand on you or harm you, because I have many people in this city."

They said, "This man is persuading people to worship God in ways that are contrary to the Law."

Then all of them took Sosthenes, the synagogue leader, and began beating him in front of the judge's seat. But Gallio paid no attention to any of this.

On hearing this, they were baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus.

This went on for two years, so that all who lived in Asia, Jews and Greeks alike, heard the word of the Lord.

Seven sons of a Jewish high priest named Sceva were doing this.

When this became known to everyone living in Ephesus, Jews and Greeks alike, they all became terrified, and the name of the Lord Jesus began to be held in high honor.

He called a meeting of these men and others who were engaged in similar trades and said, "Men, you well know that we get a good income from this business.

You also see and hear that, not only in Ephesus, but almost all over Asia, this man Paul has won over and taken away a large crowd by telling them that gods made by human hands are not gods at all.

When they heard this, they became furious and began to shout, "Great is Artemis of the Ephesians!"

When the city recorder had quieted the crowd, he said, "Men of Ephesus, who in the world doesn't know that this city of Ephesus is the keeper of the temple of the great Artemis and of the statue that fell down from heaven?

because we are in danger of being charged with rioting today, and there is no good reason we can give to justify this commotion."

After saying this, he dismissed the assembly.

We proceeded to the ship and sailed for Assos, where we intended to pick up Paul. He had arranged it this way, since he had planned to travel there on foot.

In every way I showed you that by working hard like this we should help the weak and remember the words that the Lord Jesus himself said, "It is more blessed to give than to receive.'"

When Paul had said this, he knelt down and prayed with all of them.

He came to us, took Paul's belt, and tied his own feet and hands with it. Then he said, "The Holy Spirit says, "This is how the Jewish leaders in Jerusalem will tie up the man who owns this belt. Then they will hand him over to the gentiles.'"

When we heard this, we and the people who lived there begged Paul not to go up to Jerusalem.

At this Paul replied, "What do you mean by crying and breaking my heart? I'm ready not only to be tied up in Jerusalem but even to die for the name of the Lord Jesus!"

yelling, "Men of Israel, help! This is the man who teaches everyone everywhere to turn against our people, the Law, and this place. More than that, he has even brought Greeks into the Temple and desecrated this Holy Place."

Some of the crowd shouted this and some that. Since the tribune couldn't learn the facts due to the confusion, he ordered Paul to be taken into the barracks.

"I am a Jew, born in Tarsus in Cilicia but raised in this city and educated at the feet of Gamaliel in the strict ways of our ancestral Law. I am as zealous for God as all of you are today.

I persecuted this Way, even executing people, and kept tying up both men and women and putting them in prison,

Up to this point they listened to him, but then they began to shout, "Away with such a fellow from the earth! He's not fit to go on living!"

the tribune ordered Paul to be taken into the barracks and told the soldiers to beat and question him in order to find out why the people were yelling at him like this.

When the centurion heard this, he went to the tribune and told him, "What are you doing? This man is a Roman citizen!"

Then the tribune replied, "I paid a lot of money for this citizenship of mine."

Paul looked straight at the Council and said, "Brothers, with a clear conscience I have done my duty before God up to this very day."

At this Paul told him, "God will strike you, you whitewashed wall! How can you sit there and judge me according to the Law, and yet in violation of the Law order me to be struck?"

There was a great deal of shouting until some of the scribes who belonged to the party of the Pharisees stood up and argued forcefully, "We find nothing wrong with this man. What if a spirit or an angel has spoken to him?"

More than 40 men formed this conspiracy.

Then Paul called one of the centurions and said, "Take this young man to the tribune, because he has something to tell him."

So the centurion took him, brought him to the tribune, and said, "The prisoner Paul called me and asked me to bring this young man to you. He has something to tell you."

He wrote a letter with this message:

This man had been seized by the Jews and was about to be killed by them when I went with the guard and rescued him, having learned that he was a Roman citizen.

"Your Excellency Felix, since we are enjoying lasting peace because of you, and since reforms for this nation are being brought about through your foresight, we always and everywhere acknowledge it with profound gratitude.

For we have found this man a perfect pest and an agitator among all Jews throughout the world. He is a ringleader in the sect of the Nazarenes

"Since I know that you have been a judge over this nation for many years, I am pleased to present my defense. You can verify for yourself that I went up to worship in Jerusalem no more than twelve days ago.

Then Festus said, "King Agrippa and all you men who are present with us! You see this man about whom the whole Jewish nation petitioned me, both in Jerusalem and here, shouting that he ought not to live any longer.

Our twelve tribes, worshiping day and night with intense devotion, hope to attain it. It is because of this hope, O King, that I am accused by the Jews.

For this reason the Jewish leaders grabbed me in the Temple and kept trying to kill me.

I've had help from God to this day, and so I stand here to testify to both the powerful and the lowly alike, stating only what the prophets and Moses said would happen

Indeed, the king knows about these things, and I can speak to him freely. For I'm certain that none of these things has escaped his notice, since this wasn't done in a corner.

As they were leaving, they began to say to each other, "This man hasn't been doing anything to deserve death or imprisonment."

Agrippa told Festus, "This man could have been set free if he hadn't appealed to the emperor."

"Men, I see that during this voyage there will be hardship and a heavy loss not only of the cargo and ship, but also of our lives."

After they had gone a long time without food, Paul stood among his shipmates and said, "Men, you should have listened to me and not have sailed from Crete. You would have avoided this hardship and damage.

After he said this, he took some bread, thanked God in front of everyone, broke it, and began to eat.

The rest were to follow, some on planks and others on various pieces of the ship. In this way everyone got to shore safely.

When the people who lived there saw the snake hanging from his hand, they told one another, "This man must be a murderer! He may have escaped from the sea, but Justice won't let him live."