God raised up his servant and sent him first to you, to bless you by turning each one of you from your iniquities.”

So the twelve called the whole group of the disciples together and said, “It is not right for us to neglect the word of God to wait on tables.

Then as I began to speak, the Holy Spirit fell on them just as he did on us at the beginning.

Then Paul and his companions put out to sea from Paphos and came to Perga in Pamphylia, but John left them and returned to Jerusalem.

And we proclaim to you the good news about the promise to our ancestors,

So when the crowds saw what Paul had done, they shouted in the Lycaonian language, “The gods have come down to us in human form!”

They strengthened the souls of the disciples and encouraged them to continue in the faith, saying, “We must enter the kingdom of God through many persecutions.”

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,

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.

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.

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

For in him we live and move about and exist, as even some of your own poets have said, ‘For we too are his offspring.’

but since it concerns points of disagreement about words and names and your own law, settle it yourselves. I will not be a judge of these things!”

Then Felix, who understood the facts concerning the Way more accurately, adjourned their hearing, saying, “When Lysias the commanding officer comes down, I will decide your case.”

Now all the Jews know the way I lived from my youth, spending my life from the beginning among my own people and in Jerusalem.

When it was decided we would sail to Italy, they handed over Paul and some other prisoners to a centurion of the Augustan Cohort named Julius.

We sailed slowly for many days and arrived with difficulty off Cnidus. Because the wind prevented us from going any farther, we sailed under the lee of Crete off Salmone.

When neither sun nor stars appeared for many days and a violent storm continued to batter us, we finally abandoned all hope of being saved.

Therefore I urge you to take some food, for this is important for your survival. For not one of you will lose a hair from his head.”

Now in the region around that place were fields belonging to the chief official of the island, named Publius, who welcomed us and entertained us hospitably as guests for three days.