For some time ago<n id="1" /> Theudas rose up, claiming to be somebody, and about four hundred men joined him. He<n id="2" /> was killed, and all who followed him were dispersed and nothing came of it.<n id="3" />

He<n id="1" /> did not give any of it to him for an inheritance,<n id="2" /> not even a foot of ground,<n id="3" /> yet God<n id="4" /> promised <i>to give it to him as his possession, and to his descendants after himi>,<n id="5" /> even though Abraham<n id="6" /> as yet had no child.

<b><i>I have certainly seen the sufferingi>b><n id="1" /> <b><i>of my people who are in Egypt andi>b> <i><b>have heard their groaning, and I have come down to rescue themb>.i><n id="2" /> <b><i>Nowi>b><n id="3" /> <b><i>come, I will send you to Egypti>b>.&#8217;<n id="4" />

<t /><p class="bodytext">Then an angel of the Lord<n id="1" /> said to Philip,<n id="2" /> &#8220;Get up and go south<n id="3" /> on the road that goes down from Jerusalem<n id="4" /> to Gaza.&#8221; (This is a desert<n id="5" /> road.)<n id="6" />

So<n id="1" /> he got up<n id="2" /> and went. There<n id="3" /> he met<n id="4" /> an Ethiopian eunuch,<n id="5" /> a court official of Candace,<n id="6" /> queen of the Ethiopians, who was in charge of all her treasury. He<n id="7" /> had come to Jerusalem to worship,<n id="8" />

All<n id="1" /> who heard him were amazed and were saying, &#8220;Is this not<n id="2" /> the man who in Jerusalem was ravaging<n id="3" /> those who call on this name, and who had come here to bring them as prisoners<n id="4" /> to the chief priests?&#8221;

Staring at him and becoming greatly afraid, Cornelius<n id="1" /> replied,<n id="2" /> &#8220;What is it, Lord?&#8221; The angel<n id="3" /> said to him, &#8220;Your prayers and your acts of charity<n id="4" /> have gone up as a memorial<n id="5" /> before God.

The Spirit told me to accompany them without hesitation. These six brothers<n id="1" /> also went with me, and we entered the man&#8217;s house.

He informed us how he had seen an angel standing in his house and saying, &#8216;Send to Joppa and summon Simon, who is called Peter,

and when he found him, he brought him to Antioch.<n id="1" /> So<n id="2" /> for a whole year Barnabas and Saul<n id="3" /> met with the church and taught a significant number of people.<n id="4" /> Now it was in Antioch<n id="5" /> that the disciples were first called Christians.<n id="6" />p>

He motioned to them<n id="1" /> with his hand to be quiet and then related<n id="2" /> how the Lord had brought<n id="3" /> him out of the prison. He said, &#8220;Tell James and the brothers these things,&#8221; and then he left and went to another place.<n id="4" />p>

While they were serving<n id="1" /> the Lord and fasting, the Holy Spirit said, &#8220;Set apart<n id="2" /> for me Barnabas and Saul for the work to which I have called them.&#8221;

After removing him, God<n id="1" /> raised up<n id="2" /> David their king. He testified about him:<n id="3" /> &#8216;<b><i>I have found Davidi>b><n id="4" /> the son of Jesse <b><i>to be a man after my hearti>b>,<n id="5" /> who will accomplish everything I want him to do.&#8217;<n id="6" />

When Paul and Barnabas had a major argument and debate<n id="1" /> with them, the church<n id="2" /> appointed Paul and Barnabas and some others from among them to go up to meet with<n id="3" /> the apostles and elders in Jerusalem<n id="4" /> about this point of disagreement.<n id="5" />

<p class="bodytext">Then the apostles and elders, with the whole church, decided<n id="1" /> to send men chosen from among them, Judas called Barsabbas and Silas,<n id="2" /> leaders among the brothers, to Antioch<n id="3" /> with Paul and Barnabas.

A<n id="1" /> vision appeared to Paul during the night: A Macedonian man was standing there<n id="2" /> urging him,<n id="3" /> &#8220;Come over<n id="4" /> to Macedonia<n id="5" /> and help us!&#8221;

After she and her household were baptized, she urged us,<n id="1" /> &#8220;If<n id="2" /> you consider me to be a believer in the Lord,<n id="3" /> come and stay in my house.&#8221; And she persuaded<n id="4" /> us.p>

<t /><p class="bodytext">Now<n id="1" /> 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.<n id="2" /> She<n id="3" /> brought her owners<n id="4" /> a great profit by fortune-telling.<n id="5" />

But when her owners<n id="1" /> saw their hope of profit<n id="2" /> was gone, they seized<n id="3" /> Paul and Silas and dragged<n id="4" /> them into the marketplace before the authorities.

But Paul said to the police officers,<n id="1" /> &#8220;They had us beaten in public<n id="2" /> without a proper trial<n id="3" /> &#8211; even though we are Roman citizens<n id="4" /> &#8211; and they threw us<n id="5" /> in prison. And now they want to send us away<n id="6" /> secretly? Absolutely not! They<n id="7" /> themselves must come and escort us out!&#8221;<n id="8" />