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.

I wanted to know the exact charge they were making against him, so I had him brought before their Council.

I found that, although he was charged with questions about their Law, there was no charge against him deserving death or imprisonment.

Since a plot against the man has been reported to me, I'm sending him to you at once, and I've also ordered his accusers to present their charges against him before you."

So the soldiers, in keeping with their orders, took Paul and brought him by night to Antipatris.

When these men came to Caesarea, they delivered the letter to the governor and handed Paul over to him.

and even tried to profane the Temple, but we arrested him.

By examining him for yourself, you will be able to find out from him everything of which we accuse him."

He ordered the centurion to guard Paul but to let him have some freedom and not to keep any of his friends from caring for his needs.

Some days later, Felix arrived with his wife Drusilla, who was Jewish. He sent for Paul and listened to him talk about faith in Jesus the Messiah.

At the same time he was hoping to receive a bribe from Paul, and so he would send for him frequently to talk with him.

The high priests and Jewish leaders informed him of their charges against Paul, urging

and asking Festus to have Paul brought to Jerusalem as a favor. They were laying an ambush to kill him on the road.

"Therefore," he said, "have your authorities come down with me and present their charges against him there, if there is anything wrong with the man."

When Paul arrived, the Jewish leaders who had come down from Jerusalem surrounded him and began bringing a number of serious charges against him that they couldn't prove.

When I went to Jerusalem, the high priests and the Jewish elders informed me about him and asked me to condemn him.

When his accusers stood up, they didn't accuse him of any of the crimes I was expecting.

Instead, they had several arguments with him about their own religion and about a certain Jesus who had died but Paul kept asserting he was alive.

But Paul appealed his case and asked to be held in prison until the decision of his Majesty. So I ordered him to be held in custody until I could send him to the emperor."

Agrippa told Festus, "I would like to hear the man." "Tomorrow," he said, "you will hear him."

I find that he has not done anything deserving of death. But since he has appealed to his Majesty, I have decided to send him.

I have nothing reliable to write our Sovereign about him, so I have brought him to all of you, and especially to you, King Agrippa, so that I will have something to write after he is cross-examined.

For it seems to me absurd to send a prisoner without specifying the charges against him."

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.

Then the king, the governor, Bernice, and those who were sitting with him got up.

The next day, we arrived at Sidon, and Julius treated Paul kindly allowing him to visit his friends there and to receive any care he needed.

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."

They were expecting him to swell up or suddenly drop dead, but after waiting a long time and seeing nothing unusual happen to him, they changed their minds and said he was a god.

The father of Publius happened to be sick in bed with fever and dysentery. Paul went to him, prayed, and healed him by placing his hands on him.

After that had happened, the rest of the sick people on the island went to him and were healed.

When we came into Rome, Paul was allowed to live by himself with the soldier who was guarding him.

The Jewish leaders told him, "We haven't received any letters from Judea about you, and none of the brothers coming here has reported or mentioned anything bad about you.

So they set a day to meet with Paul and came out in large numbers to see him where he was staying.

For two whole years Paul lived in his own rented place and welcomed everyone who came to him.

Through him we received grace and a commission as an apostle to bring about faithful obedience among all the gentiles for the sake of his name.

For although they knew God, they neither glorified him as God nor gave thanks to him. Instead, their thoughts turned to worthless things, and their senseless hearts were darkened.

For if through my falsehood God's truthfulness glorifies him even more, why am I still being condemned as a sinner?

For what does the Scripture say? "Abraham believed God, and it was credited to him as righteousness."

How blessed is the person whose sins the Lord will never charge against him!"

Now does this blessedness come to the circumcised alone, or also to the uncircumcised? For we say, "Abraham's faith was credited to him as righteousness."

This is why "it was credited to him as righteousness."

Now the words "it was credited to him" were written not only for him

Through him we have also obtained access by faith into this grace by which we have been established, and we boast because of our hope in God's glory.

Now that we have been justified by his blood, how much more will we be saved from wrath through him!

Therefore, through baptism we were buried with him into his death so that, just as the Messiah was raised from the dead by the Father's glory, we too may live an entirely new life.

For if we have become united with him in a death like his, we will certainly also be united with him in a resurrection like his.

We know that our old natures were crucified with him so that our sin-laden bodies might be rendered powerless and we might no longer be slaves to sin.

Now if we have died with the Messiah, we believe that we will also live with him,

for we know that the Messiah, who was raised from the dead, will never die again; death no longer has mastery over him.

You, however, are not under the control of the human nature but under the control of the Spirit, since God's Spirit lives in you. And if anyone does not have the Spirit of the Messiah, he does not belong to him.

The one who did not spare his own Son, but offered him as a sacrifice for all of us, surely will give us all things, along with his Son, won't he?

As it is written, "Look! I am placing a stone in Zion over which people will stumble a large rock that will make them fall and the one who believes in him will never be ashamed."

If you declare with your mouth that Jesus is Lord, and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.

The Scripture says, "Everyone who believes in him will never be ashamed."

There is no difference between Jew and Greek, because they all have the same Lord, who gives richly to all who call on him.

But what was the divine reply to him? "I have reserved for myself 7,000 people who have not knelt to worship Baal."

Or who has given him something only to have him pay it back?"

For all things are from him, by him, and for him. Glory belongs to him forever! Amen.

But "if your enemy is hungry, feed him. For if he is thirsty, give him a drink. If you do this, you will pile burning coals on his head."

The person who eats any kind of food must not ridicule the person who does not eat them, and the person who does not eat certain foods must not criticize the person who eats them, for God has accepted him.

Who are you to criticize someone else's servant? He stands or falls before his own Lord and stand he will, because the Lord makes him stand.

Each of us must please our neighbor for the good purpose of building him up.

And again, "Praise the Lord, all you gentiles! Let all the nations praise him."

And again, Isaiah says, "There will be a Root from Jesse. He will rise up to rule the gentiles, and the gentiles will hope in him."

Rather, as it is written, "Those who were never told about him will see, and those who have never heard will understand."

For by him you have become rich in every way in speech and knowledge of every kind

For while I was with you I resolved to know nothing except Jesus the Messiah, and him crucified.

But as it is written, "No eye has seen, no ear has heard, and no mind has imagined the things that God has prepared for those who love him."

A person who isn't spiritual doesn't accept the things of God's Spirit, for they are nonsense to him. He can't understand them because they are spiritually evaluated.

For "Who has known the mind of the Lord so that he can advise him?" However, we have the mind of the Messiah.

If anyone destroys God's sanctuary, God will destroy him, for God's sanctuary is holy. And you are that sanctuary!

But the person who unites himself with the Lord becomes one spirit with him.

But if she does leave him, she must remain unmarried or else be reconciled to her husband. Likewise, a husband must not abandon his wife.

I (not the Lord) say to the rest of you: If a brother has a wife who is an unbeliever and she is willing to live with him, he must not abandon her.

And if a woman has a husband who is an unbeliever and he is willing to live with her, she must not abandon him.

But if the unbelieving partner leaves, let him go. In such cases the brother or sister is not under obligation. God has called you to live in peace.

Nevertheless, everyone should live the life that the Lord gave him and to which God called him. This is my rule in all the churches.

If a man thinks he is not behaving properly toward his virgin, and if his passion is so strong that he feels he ought to marry her, let him do what he wants; he isn't sinning. Let them get married.

But anyone who loves God is known by him.

For the person who speaks in a foreign language is not actually speaking to people but to God. Indeed, no one understands him, because he is talking about secrets by the Spirit.

for "God has put everything under his feet." Now when he says, "Everything has been put under him," this clearly excludes the one who put everything under him.

But when everything has been put under him, then the Son himself will also become subject to the one who put everything under him, so that God may be all in all.

Therefore, no one should treat him with contempt. Send him on his way in peace so that he may come to me, because I am expecting him along with the brothers.

Now concerning our brother Apollos, I strongly urged him to visit you with the other brothers, but he was not inclined to do so just now. However, he will visit you when the time is right.

If anyone doesn't love the Lord, let him be !

For God's Son, Jesus the Messiah, who was preached among you by us by me, Silvanus, and Timothy was not "Yes" and "No." But with him it is always "Yes."

For all God's promises are "Yes" in him. And so through him we can say "Amen," to the glory of God.

So forgive and comfort him, or else he will drown in his excessive grief.

That's why I'm urging you to assure him of your love.

But thanks be to God! He always leads us triumphantly by the Messiah and through us spreads everywhere the fragrance of knowing him.

As all of us reflect the glory of the Lord with unveiled faces, we are becoming more like him with ever-increasing glory by the Lord's Spirit.

So whether we are at home or away from home, our goal is to be pleasing to him.

So then, from now on we do not think of anyone from a human point of view. Even if we did think of the Messiah from a human point of view, we don't think of him that way anymore.

For if I have been doing some boasting about you to him, I have never been ashamed of it. Moreover, since everything we told you was true, our boasting to Titus has also proved to be true.

His affection for you is even greater as he remembers how obedient all of you were and how you welcomed him with fear and trembling.

With him we have sent the brother who is praised in all the churches for spreading the gospel.

but I was let down in a basket through an opening in the wall and escaped from him.

I encouraged Titus to visit you, and I sent along with him the brother you know so well. Titus didn't take advantage of you, did he? We conducted ourselves with the same spirit, didn't we? We took the very same steps, didn't we?

Though he was crucified in weakness, he lives by God's power. We are weak with him, but by God's power we will live for you.

From: Paul an apostle not sent from men or by a man, but by Jesus the Messiah, and God the Father, who raised him from the dead