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.

For the people who live in Jerusalem and their leaders, not knowing who Jesus was, condemned him and so fulfilled the words of the prophets that are read every Sabbath.

When they had finished doing everything that was written about him, they took him down from the tree and placed him in a tomb.

"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.

So be careful that what the prophets said doesn't happen to you:

"Look, you mockers! Be amazed and die! Since I am performing an action in your days, one that you would not believe even if someone told you!'"

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.'"

In Iconium, Paul and Barnabas went into the Jewish synagogue and spoke in such a way that a great number of both Jews and Greeks believed.

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

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,

When they arrived, they called the church together and told them everything that God had done with them and how he had opened a door so that gentiles would believe.

When they arrived in Jerusalem, they were welcomed by the church, the apostles, and the elders, and they reported everything that God had done through them.

After a lengthy debate, Peter stood up and told them, "Brothers, you know that in the early days, God chose me to be the one among you through whom the gentiles would hear the message of the gospel and believe.

So why do you test God by putting on the disciples' neck a yoke that neither our ancestors nor we could carry?

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.

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

that have been known from long ago.'

"Therefore, I have decided that we should not trouble these gentiles who are turning to God.

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

The disagreement was so sharp that they parted ways. Barnabas took Mark and sailed to Cyprus,

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.

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.

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.

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.

When her owners realized that their hope of making money was gone, they grabbed Paul and Silas and dragged them before the authorities who met together in the public square.

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

Suddenly, there was an earthquake so violent that the foundations of the prison were shaken. All the doors immediately flew open, and everyone's chains were unfastened.

At that hour of the night, he took them and washed their wounds. Then he and his entire family were baptized immediately.

The guards reported these words to the magistrates, and they became afraid when they heard that Paul and Silas were Roman citizens.

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."

and Jason has welcomed them as his guests. All of them oppose the emperor's decrees by saying that there is another king Jesus!"

That night the brothers immediately sent Paul and Silas away to Berea. When they arrived, they went into the Jewish synagogue.

But when the Jewish leaders in Thessalonica found out that the word of God had been proclaimed by Paul also in Berea, they went there to upset and incite the crowds.

So Paul stood up in front of the Areopagus and said, "Men of Athens, I see that you are very religious in every way.

so that they might look for God, somehow reach for him, and find him. Of course, he is never far from any one of us.

So if we are God's children, we shouldn't think that the divine being is like gold, silver, or stone, or is an image carved by humans using their own imagination and skill.

But when Silas and Timothy arrived from Macedonia, Paul devoted himself entirely to the word as he emphatically assured the Jews that Jesus is the Messiah.

Then he left that place and went to the home of a man named Titius Justus, who worshipped God and whose house was next door to the synagogue.

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

But since it is a question about words, names, and your own Law, you will have to take care of that yourselves. I refuse to be a judge in these matters."

He successfully refuted the Jews in public and proved by the Scriptures that Jesus is the Messiah.

It was while Apollos was in Corinth that Paul passed through the inland districts and came to Ephesus. He found a few disciples there

and asked them, "Did you receive the Holy Spirit when you believed?" They answered him, "No, we haven't even heard that there is a Holy Spirit."

Then Paul said, "John baptized when they repented, 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 Asia, Jews and Greeks alike, heard the word of the Lord.

When handkerchiefs and aprons that had touched his skin were taken to the sick, their diseases left them and evil spirits went out of them.

Then some Jews who went around trying to drive out demons attempted to use the name of the Lord Jesus on those who had evil spirits, saying, "I command you by that Jesus whom Paul preaches!"

Then the man with the evil spirit jumped on them, got the better of them, and so violently overpowered all of them that they fled out of the house naked and bruised.

In that way the word of the Lord kept spreading and triumphing.

Now about that time a great commotion broke out concerning the Way.

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.

There is a danger not only that our business will lose its reputation but also that the temple of the great goddess Artemis will be brought into disrepute and that she will be robbed of her majesty that brought all Asia and the world to worship her."

But when they found out that he was a Jew, they all started to shout in unison for about two hours, "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?

We sailed from there and on the following day arrived off Chios. The next day, we crossed over to Samos and stayed at Trogyllium. The day after that, we came to Miletus.

Paul had decided to sail past Ephesus to avoid spending time in Asia, as he was in a hurry to get to Jerusalem for the day of Pentecost, if that was possible.

I served the Lord with all humility, with tears, and with trials that came to me through the plots of the Jews.

I never shrank from telling you anything that would help you nor from teaching you publicly and from house to house.

except that in town after town the Holy Spirit assures me that imprisonment and suffering are waiting for me.

But I don't place any value on my life, if only I can finish my race and the ministry that I received from the Lord Jesus of testifying to the gospel of God's grace.

"Now I know that none of you among whom I traveled preaching about the kingdom will ever see my face again.

I therefore declare to you today that I'm not responsible for the blood of any of you,

I know that when I'm gone, savage wolves will come among you and not spare the flock.

So be alert! Remember that for three years, night and day, I never stopped tearfully warning each of you.

You yourselves know that I worked with my own hands to support myself and those who were with me.

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.'"

They were especially sorrowful because of what he had said that they would never see his face again. Then they took him to the ship.

After greeting them, Paul related one by one the things that God had done among the gentiles through his ministry.

But they have been told about you that you teach all the Jews living among the gentiles to forsake the Law of Moses, and that you tell them not to circumcise their children or observe the customs.

What is to be done? They will certainly hear that you have come.

Take these men, go through the purification ceremony with them, and pay their expenses to shave their heads. Then everyone will know that there is nothing in what they have been told about you, but that you are carefully observing and keeping the Law.

As for the gentiles who have become believers, we have sent a letter with our decision that they should keep away from food that has been sacrificed to idols, from blood, from anything strangled, and from sexual immorality."

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."

For they had earlier seen Trophimus the Ephesian in the city with him and assumed that Paul had taken him into the Temple.

The crowd was trying to kill Paul when a report reached the tribune of the cohort that all Jerusalem was in an uproar.

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.

"Brothers and fathers, listen to the defense that I am now making before you."

came to me. He stood beside me and said, "Brother Saul, receive your sight!' At that moment I could see him.

"I said, "Lord, they themselves know that in every synagogue I kept imprisoning and beating those who believe in you.

Paul said, "But I was born a citizen." Immediately those who were about to examine him stepped back, and the tribune was afraid when he found out that Paul was a Roman citizen and that he had tied him up.

Paul answered, "I didn't realize, brothers, that he is the high priest. After all, it is written, "You must not speak evil about a ruler of your people.'"

When Paul saw that some of them were Sadducees and others were Pharisees, he shouted in the Council, "Brothers, I'm a Pharisee and a descendant of Pharisees. I'm on trial concerning the hope that the dead will be resurrected."

After he said that, an angry quarrel broke out between the Pharisees and the Sadducees, and the assembly was divided,

because the Sadducees say that there is no resurrection and that there is no such thing as an angel or spirit, but the Pharisees believe in all those things.

The quarrel was becoming violent, and the tribune was afraid that they would tear Paul to pieces. So he ordered the soldiers to go down, take him away from them by force, and bring him into the barracks.

That night the Lord stood near Paul and said, "Have courage! For just as you have testified about me in Jerusalem, you must testify in Rome, too."

Now then, you and the Council must notify the tribune to bring him down to you on the pretext that you want to look into his case more carefully, but before he arrives we'll be ready to kill him."

The tribune dismissed the young man and ordered him not to tell anyone that he had notified him.

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

After reading the letter, the governor asked which province Paul was from. On learning that he was from Cilicia,

The Jewish leaders supported his accusations by asserting that these things were true.

"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.

However, I admit to you that in accordance with the Way, which they call a heresy, I worship the God of our ancestors and believe in everything written in the Law and the Prophets.

I have the same hope in God that they themselves cherish that there is to be a resurrection of the righteous and the wicked.

unless it is for the one thing I shouted as I stood among them: "It is for the resurrection of the dead that I am on trial before you today.'"