When they arrived and gathered the church together, they reported all the things God had done with them, and that he had opened a door of faith for the Gentiles.

After there had been much debate, Peter stood up and said to them, "Brothers, you know that some time ago God chose me to preach to the Gentiles so they would hear the message of the gospel and believe.

So now why are you putting God to the test by placing on the neck of the disciples a yoke that neither our ancestors nor we have been able to bear?

On the contrary, we believe that we are saved through the grace of the Lord Jesus, in the same way as they are."

so that the rest of humanity may seek the Lord, namely, all the Gentiles I have called to be my own,' says the Lord, who makes these things

"Therefore I conclude that we should not cause extra difficulty for those among the Gentiles who are turning to God,

but that we should write them a letter telling them to abstain from things defiled by idols and from sexual immorality and from what has been strangled and from blood.

Since we have heard that some have gone out from among us with no orders from us and have confused you, upsetting your minds by what they said,

that you abstain from meat that has been sacrificed to idols and from blood and from what has been strangled and from sexual immorality. If you keep yourselves from doing these things, you will do well. Farewell.

but Paul insisted that they should not take along this one who had left them in Pamphylia and had not accompanied them in the work.

They had a sharp disagreement, so that they parted company. Barnabas took along Mark and sailed away to Cyprus,

Paul wanted Timothy to accompany him, and he took him and circumcised him because of the Jews who were in those places, for they all knew that his father was Greek.

As they went through the towns, they passed on the decrees that had been decided on by the apostles and elders in Jerusalem for the Gentile believers to obey.

After Paul saw the vision, we attempted immediately to go over to Macedonia, concluding that God had called us to proclaim the good news to them.

and from there to Philippi, which is a leading city of that district of Macedonia, a Roman colony. We stayed in this city for some days.

Now as we were going to the place of prayer, a slave girl met us who had a spirit that enabled her to foretell the future by supernatural means. She brought her owners a great profit by fortune-telling.

and are advocating customs that are not lawful for us to accept or practice, since we are Romans."

Suddenly a great earthquake occurred, so that the foundations of the prison were shaken. Immediately all the doors flew open, and the bonds of all the prisoners came loose.

At that hour of the night he took them and washed their wounds; then he and all his family were baptized right away.

The jailer brought them into his house and set food before them, and he rejoiced greatly that he had come to believe in God, together with his entire household.

explaining and demonstrating that the Christ had to suffer and to rise from the dead, saying, "This Jesus I am proclaiming to you is the Christ."

But when the Jews from Thessalonica heard that Paul had also proclaimed the word of God in Berea, they came there too, inciting and disturbing the crowds.

So they took Paul and brought him to the Areopagus, saying, "May we know what this new teaching is that you are proclaiming?

So Paul stood before the Areopagus and said, "Men of Athens, I see that you are very religious in all respects.

so that they would search for God and perhaps grope around for him and find him, though he is not far from each one of us.

Now when Silas and Timothy arrived from Macedonia, Paul became wholly absorbed with proclaiming the word, testifying to the Jews that Jesus was the Christ.

for he refuted the Jews vigorously in public debate, demonstrating from the scriptures that the Christ was Jesus.

and said to them, "Did you receive the Holy Spirit when you believed?" They replied, "No, we have not even heard that there is a Holy Spirit."

Paul said, "John baptized with a baptism of repentance, telling the people to believe in the one who was to come after him, that is, in Jesus."

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

so that when even handkerchiefs or aprons that had touched his body were brought to the sick, their diseases left them and the evil spirits went out of them.

Then the man who was possessed by the evil spirit jumped on them and beat them all into submission. He prevailed against them so that they fled from that house naked and wounded.

At that time a great disturbance took place concerning the Way.

He gathered these together, along with the workmen in similar trades, and said, "Men, you know that our prosperity comes from this business.

And you see and hear that this Paul has persuaded and turned away a large crowd, not only in Ephesus but in practically all of the province of Asia, by saying that gods made by hands are not gods at all.

There is danger not only that this business of ours will come into disrepute, but also that the temple of the great goddess Artemis will be regarded as nothing, and she whom all the province of Asia and the world worship will suffer the loss of her greatness."

But when they recognized that he was a Jew, they all shouted in unison, "Great is Artemis of the Ephesians!" for about two hours.

After the city secretary quieted the crowd, he said, "Men of Ephesus, what person is there who does not know that the city of the Ephesians is the keeper of the temple of the great Artemis and of her image that fell from heaven?

We set sail from there, and on the following day we arrived off Chios. The next day we approached Samos, and the day after that we arrived at Miletus.

serving the Lord with all humility and with tears, and with the trials that happened to me because of the plots of the Jews.

You know that I did not hold back from proclaiming to you anything that would be helpful, and from teaching you publicly and from house to house,

except that the Holy Spirit warns me in town after town that imprisonment and persecutions are waiting for me.

But I do not consider my life worth anything to myself, so that I may finish my task and the ministry that I received from the Lord Jesus, to testify to the good news of God's grace.

"And now I know that none of you among whom I went around proclaiming the kingdom will see me again.

Therefore I declare to you today that I am innocent of the blood of you all.

Watch out for yourselves and for all the flock of which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers, to shepherd the church of God that he obtained with the blood of his own Son.

I know that after I am gone fierce wolves will come in among you, not sparing the flock.

Therefore be alert, remembering that night and day for three years I did not stop warning each one of you with tears.

You yourselves know that these hands of mine provided for my needs and the needs of those who were with me.

By all these things, I have shown you that by working in this way we must help the weak, and remember the words of the Lord Jesus that he himself said, 'It is more blessed to give than to receive.'"

especially saddened by what he had said, that they were not going to see him again. Then they accompanied him to the ship.

They have been informed about you -- that you teach all the Jews now living among the Gentiles to abandon Moses, telling them not to circumcise their children or live according to our customs.

What then should we do? They will no doubt hear that you have come.

take them and purify yourself along with them and pay their expenses, so that they may have their heads shaved. Then everyone will know there is nothing in what they have been told about you, but that you yourself live in conformity with the law.

But regarding the Gentiles who have believed, we have written a letter, having decided that they should avoid meat that has been sacrificed to idols and blood and what has been strangled and sexual immorality."

While they were trying to kill him, a report was sent up to the commanding officer of the cohort that all Jerusalem was in confusion.

Then you're not that Egyptian who started a rebellion and led the four thousand men of the 'Assassins' into the wilderness some time ago?"

"Brothers and fathers, listen to my defense that I now make to you."

(When they heard that he was addressing them in Aramaic, they became even quieter.) Then Paul said,

So I asked, 'What should I do, Lord?' The Lord said to me, 'Get up and go to Damascus; there you will be told about everything that you have been designated to do.'

Since I could not see because of the brilliance of that light, I came to Damascus led by the hand of those who were with me.

came to me and stood beside me and said to me, 'Brother Saul, regain your sight!' And at that very moment I looked up and saw him.

I replied, 'Lord, they themselves know that I imprisoned and beat those in the various synagogues who believed in you.

the commanding officer ordered Paul to be brought back into the barracks. He told them to interrogate Paul by beating him with a lash so that he could find out the reason the crowd was shouting at Paul in this way.

Then those who were about to interrogate him stayed away from him, and the commanding officer was frightened when he realized that Paul was a Roman citizen and that he had had him tied up.

At that the high priest Ananias ordered those standing near Paul to strike him on the mouth.

Paul replied, "I did not realize, brothers, that he was the high priest, for it is written, 'You must not speak evil about a ruler of your people.'"

Then when Paul noticed that part of them were Sadducees and the others Pharisees, he shouted out in the council, "Brothers, I am a Pharisee, a son of Pharisees. I am on trial concerning the hope of the resurrection of the dead!"

When the argument became so great the commanding officer feared that they would tear Paul to pieces, he ordered the detachment to go down, take him away from them by force, and bring him into the barracks.

The commanding officer took him by the hand, withdrew privately, and asked, "What is it that you want to report to me?"

Then the commanding officer sent the young man away, directing him, "Tell no one that you have reported these things to me."

and provide mounts for Paul to ride so that he may be brought safely to Felix the governor."

He wrote a letter that went like this:

This man was seized by the Jews and they were about to kill him, when I came up with the detachment and rescued him, because I had learned that he was a Roman citizen.

When the governor had read the letter, he asked what province he was from. When he learned that he was from Cilicia,

he said, "I will give you a hearing when your accusers arrive too." Then he ordered that Paul be kept under guard in Herod's palace.

But so that I may not delay you any further, I beg you to hear us briefly with your customary graciousness.

The Jews also joined in the verbal attack, claiming that these things were true.

When the governor gestured for him to speak, Paul replied, "Because I know that you have been a judge over this nation for many years, I confidently make my defense.

But I confess this to you, that I worship the God of our ancestors according to the Way (which they call a sect), believing everything that is according to the law and that is written in the prophets.

I have a hope in God (a hope that these men themselves accept too) that there is going to be a resurrection of both the righteous and the unrighteous.

At the same time he was also hoping that Paul would give him money, and for this reason he sent for Paul as often as possible and talked with him.

Then Festus replied that Paul was being kept at Caesarea, and he himself intended to go there shortly.

When he arrived, the Jews who had come down from Jerusalem stood around him, bringing many serious charges that they were not able to prove.

If then I am in the wrong and have done anything that deserves death, I am not trying to escape dying, but if not one of their charges against me is true, no one can hand me over to them. I appeal to Caesar!"

I answered them that it was not the custom of the Romans to hand over anyone before the accused had met his accusers face to face and had been given an opportunity to make a defense against the accusation.

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

But I found that he had done nothing that deserved death, and when he appealed to His Majesty the Emperor, I decided to send him.

But I have nothing definite to write to my lord about him. Therefore I have brought him before you all, and especially before you, King Agrippa, so that after this preliminary hearing I may have something to write.

"Regarding all the things I have been accused of by the Jews, King Agrippa, I consider myself fortunate that I am about to make my defense before you today,

They know, because they have known me from time past, if they are willing to testify, that according to the strictest party of our religion, I lived as a Pharisee.

a promise that our twelve tribes hope to attain as they earnestly serve God night and day. Concerning this hope the Jews are accusing me, Your Majesty!

Why do you people think it is unbelievable that God raises the dead?

Of course, I myself was convinced that it was necessary to do many things hostile to the name of Jesus the Nazarene.

And that is what I did in Jerusalem: Not only did I lock up many of the saints in prisons by the authority I received from the chief priests, but I also cast my vote against them when they were sentenced to death.

to open their eyes so that they turn from darkness to light and from the power of Satan to God, so that they may receive forgiveness of sins and a share among those who are sanctified by faith in me.'

but I declared to those in Damascus first, and then to those in Jerusalem and in all Judea, and to the Gentiles, that they should repent and turn to God, performing deeds consistent with repentance.

that the Christ was to suffer and be the first to rise from the dead, to proclaim light both to our people and to the Gentiles."

For the king knows about these things, and I am speaking freely to him, because I cannot believe that any of these things has escaped his notice, for this was not done in a corner.

Do you believe the prophets, King Agrippa? I know that you believe."