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!'

So God turned away from them and gave them over to worship the heavenly bodies. As it is written in the book of the Prophets: "O house of Israel, you didn't offer me slaughtered animals and sacrifices those 40 years in the wilderness, did you?

You even took along the tent of Moloch, the star of your god Rephan, and the images you made in order to worship them. So I will take you into exile as far as Babylon.'

"Our ancestors had the Tent of Testimony in the wilderness constructed, just as the one who spoke to Moses directed him to make it according to the pattern he had seen.

However, the Most High does not live in buildings made by human hands. As the prophet says,

""Heaven is my throne, and the earth is my footstool. What kind of house can you build for me,' declares the Lord, "or what place is there in which I can rest?

"You stubborn people with uncircumcised hearts and ears! You are always opposing the Holy Spirit, just as your ancestors used to do.

You received the Law as ordained by angels, and yet you haven't obeyed it!"

As they continued to stone Stephen, he kept praying, "Lord Jesus, receive my spirit!"

Devout men buried Stephen as they mourned loudly for him.

Unclean spirits screamed with a loud voice as they came out of the many people they had possessed, and many paralyzed and lame people were healed.

As a result, there was great rejoicing in that city.

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

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."

Now he was returning home, seated in his chariot, and reading from the prophet Isaiah.

So Philip ran up to it and heard him reading the prophet Isaiah out loud. Philip asked, "Do you understand what you're reading?"

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.

In his humiliation, justice was denied him. Who can describe his descendants? For his life is taken away from the earth."

The eunuch asked Philip, "I ask you, who is the prophet talking about? Himself? Or someone else?"

As they were going along the road, they came to some water. The eunuch said, "Look, there's some water. What keeps me from being baptized?"

But Philip found himself at Azotus. As he was passing through that region, he kept proclaiming the good news in all the towns until he came to Caesarea.

As Saul traveled along and was approaching Damascus, a light from heaven suddenly flashed around him.

He is here with authority from the high priests to put in chains all who call on your name."

So Ananias left and went to that house. He laid his hands on Saul and said, "Brother Saul, the Lord Jesus, who appeared to you on the road as you were traveling, has sent me so that you may see again and be filled with the Holy Spirit."

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?"

So the church throughout Judea, Galilee, and Samaria enjoyed peace. As it continued to be built up and to live in the fear of the Lord, it kept increasing in numbers through the encouragement of the Holy Spirit.

Peter told him, "Aeneas, Jesus the Messiah is healing you. Get up and put away your mat!" At once he got up,

In Joppa there was a disciple named Tabitha, which in Greek is Dorcas. She was known for her good actions and acts of charity that she was always doing.

Now in Caesarea there was a man named Cornelius, a centurion in what was known as the Italian Regiment.

He was a devout man who feared God, as did everyone in his home. He gave many gifts to the poor among the people and always prayed to God.

He stared at the angel in terror and asked, "What is it, Lord?"

The angel answered him, "Your prayers and your gifts to the poor have arisen as a reminder to God. Send men now to Joppa and summon Simon, who is called Peter.

He is a guest of Simon, a leatherworker, whose house is by the sea."

But Peter said, "Absolutely not, Lord, for I have never eaten anything that is common or unclean!"

The men replied, "Cornelius, a centurion and an upright and God-fearing man who is respected by the whole Jewish nation, was instructed by a holy angel to send for you to come to his home to hear what you have to say."

So Peter welcomed them as his guests. The next day, he got up and went with them, and some of the brothers from Joppa went along with him.

As Peter talked with him, he went in and found that many people had gathered.

He told them, "You understand how wrong it is for a Jew to associate or visit with unbelievers. But God has shown me that I should stop calling anyone common or unclean,

and that is why I didn't hesitate when I was sent for. Now may I ask why you sent for me?"

so send messengers to Joppa and summon Simon, who is called Peter, to come to you. He is a guest in the home of Simon, a leatherworker, by the sea.'

So I sent for you immediately, and it was good of you to come. All of us are here now in the presence of God to listen to everything the Lord has ordered you to say."

Indeed, whoever fears him and does what is right is acceptable to him in any nation.

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.

not to all the people, but to us who were chosen by God to be witnesses and who ate and drank with him after he rose from the dead.

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.

"No one can stop us from using water to baptize these people who have received the Holy Spirit in the same way that we did, can they?"

Then he told us how he had seen an angel standing in his home and saying, "Send messengers to Joppa and summon Simon, who is called Peter.

"When I began to speak, the Holy Spirit fell on them just as he was first given to us.

Now if God gave them the same gift that he gave us when we believed in the Lord Jesus, the Messiah, who was I to try to stop God?"

Now the people who were scattered by the persecution that started because of Stephen went as far as Phoenicia, Cyprus, and Antioch, speaking the word to no one except Jews.

So all of the disciples decided they would send a contribution to the brothers living in Judea, as they were able,

When morning came, there was a great commotion among the soldiers as to what had become of Peter.

Now Herod had been in a violent quarrel with the people of Tyre and Sidon. So they came to him as a group. After they had won over Blastus, who oversaw security for the king's sleeping quarters, they asked for a peace agreement because their country depended on the king's country for food.

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

They went through the whole island as far as Paphos, where they found a Jewish occult practitioner and false prophet named Bar-jesus.

But Elymas the occult practitioner (that is the meaning of his name) continued to oppose them and tried to turn the proconsul away from the faith.

But Saul, also known as Paul, filled with the Holy Spirit, looked him straight in the eye

and said, "You're full of every form of deception and trickery, you son of the Devil, you enemy of all that is right! You'll never stop perverting the straight ways of the Lord, will you?

The Lord is against you now, and you'll be blind and unable to see the sun for a while!" At that moment a dark mist came over him, and he went around looking for someone to lead him by the hand.

he destroyed seven nations in the land of Canaan. Then God gave their land to the Israelis as an inheritance

Then God removed Saul and made David their king, about whom he testified, "I have found that David, the son of Jesse, is a man after my own heart, who will carry out all my wishes.'

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

When John was finishing his work, he said, "Who do you think I am? I'm not the Messiah. No, but he is coming after me, and I'm not worthy to untie the sandals on his feet.'

"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.

he has fulfilled for us, their descendants, by raising Jesus. As it is written in the second Psalm, "You are my Son. Today I have become your Father.'

God raised him from the dead, never to experience decay, as he said, "I'll give you the holy promises made to David.'

"Therefore, brothers, you must understand that through him the forgiveness of sins is proclaimed to you,

and that everyone who believes in him is justified and freed from everything that kept you from being justified by the Law of Moses.

As Paul and Barnabas were leaving, the people kept urging them to tell them the same things the next Sabbath.

For that is what the Lord ordered us to do: "I have made you a light to the gentiles to be the means of salvation to the very ends of the earth.'"

Now in Lystra there was a man sitting down who couldn't use his feet. He had been crippled from birth and had never walked.

He was listening to Paul as he spoke. Paul watched him closely, and when he saw that he had faith to be healed,

When the crowds saw what Paul had done, they shouted in the Lycaonian language, "The gods have become like men and have come down to us!"

As they were proclaiming the good news in that city, they discipled a large number of people. Then they went back to Lystra, Iconium, and Antioch,

They were sent on their way by the church, and as they were going through Phoenicia and Samaria they told of the conversion of the gentiles and brought great joy to all the brothers.

God, who knows everyone's heart, showed them he approved by giving them the Holy Spirit, just as he did to us.

He made no distinction between them and us, because of their faith-cleansed hearts.

We certainly believe that it is through the grace of the Lord Jesus, the Messiah, that we are saved, just as they are."

The whole crowd was silent as they listened to Barnabas and Paul tell about all the signs and wonders that God had done through them among the gentiles.

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

so that the rest of the people may search for the Lord, including all the gentiles who are called by my name,' declares the Lord. "He is the one who has been doing these things

Greetings. We have heard that some men, coming from us without instructions from us, have said things to trouble you and have unsettled you.

For it seemed good to the Holy Spirit and to us not to place on you any burden but these essential requirements:

Both Paul and Barnabas remained in Antioch to teach and proclaim the word of the Lord, as did many others.

Paul also went to Derbe and Lystra, where there was a disciple named Timothy, the son of a believing Jewish wife whose husband was a Greek.

As they went from town to town, they delivered the decisions reached by the apostles and elders in Jerusalem for them to obey.

Because they had been prevented by the Holy Spirit from speaking the word in Asia, Paul and Timothy went through the region of Phrygia and Galatia.

They went as far as Mysia and tried to enter Bithynia, but the Spirit of Jesus did not permit them,

During the night Paul had a vision. A man from Macedonia was standing there and pleading with him, "Come over to Macedonia and help us!"

As soon as he had seen the vision, we immediately looked for a way to go to Macedonia, because we were convinced that God had called us to tell the people there the good news.

A woman named Lydia, from the city of Thyatira, a dealer in purple goods, was listening to us. She was a worshiper of God, and the Lord opened her heart to listen carefully to what was being said by Paul.

When she and her family were baptized, she urged us, "If you are convinced that I am a believer in the Lord, come and stay at my home." And she continued to insist that we do so.

Once, as we were going to the place of prayer, we met a slave girl who had a spirit of fortune-telling and who had brought her owners a great deal of money by predicting the future.

She would follow Paul and us and shout, "These men are servants of the Most High God and are proclaiming to you a way of salvation!"

and are advocating customs that we're not allowed to accept or practice as Romans."

The jailer asked for torches and rushed inside. Trembling as he knelt in front of Paul and Silas,

He brought Paul and Silas upstairs into his house and set food before them. He was thrilled, as was his household, to believe in God.

But Paul told the guards, "The magistrates have had us beaten publicly without a trial and have thrown us into jail, even though we are Roman citizens. Now are they going to throw us out secretly? Certainly not! Have them come and escort us out."

As usual, Paul entered there and on three Sabbaths discussed the Scriptures with them.