<p class="bodytext">Then<n id="1" /> the church throughout Judea, Galilee,<n id="2" /> and Samaria experienced<n id="3" /> peace and thus was strengthened.<n id="4" /> Living<n id="5" /> in the fear of the Lord and in the encouragement of the Holy Spirit, the church<n id="6" /> increased in numbers.p>

Therefore I sent for you at once, and you were kind enough to come.<n id="1" /> So now we are all here in the presence of God<n id="2" /> to listen<n id="3" /> to everything the Lord has commanded you to say to us.&#8221;<n id="4" />p>

not by all the people, but by us, the witnesses God had already chosen,<n id="1" /> who ate and drank<n id="2" /> with him after he rose from the dead.

&#8220;I was in the city of Joppa praying, and in a trance I saw a vision,<n id="1" /> an object something like a large sheet descending,<n id="2" /> being let down from heaven<n id="3" /> by its four corners, and it came to me.

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.

Therefore if God<n id="1" /> gave them the same gift<n id="2" /> as he also gave us after believing<n id="3" /> in the Lord Jesus Christ,<n id="4" /> who was I to hinder<n id="5" /> God?&#8221;

<t /><p class="bodytext">Now those who had been scattered because of the persecution that took place over Stephen<n id="1" /> went as far as<n id="2" /> Phoenicia,<n id="3" /> Cyprus,<n id="4" /> and Antioch,<n id="5" /> speaking the message<n id="6" /> to no one but Jews.

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>

On that very night before Herod was going to bring him out for trial,<n id="1" /> Peter was sleeping between two soldiers, bound with two chains, while<n id="2" /> guards in front of the door were keeping watch<n id="3" /> over the prison.

When<n id="1" /> Peter came to himself, he said, &#8220;Now I know for certain that the Lord has sent his angel and rescued<n id="2" /> me from the hand<n id="3" /> of Herod<n id="4" /> and from everything the Jewish people<n id="5" /> were expecting to happen.&#8221;p>

<p class="bodytext">Now Herod<n id="1" /> was having an angry quarrel<n id="2" /> with the people of Tyre<n id="3" /> and Sidon.<n id="4" /> So they joined together<n id="5" /> and presented themselves before him. And after convincing<n id="6" /> Blastus, the king&#8217;s personal assistant,<n id="7" /> to help them,<n id="8" /> they asked for peace,<n id="9" /> because their country&#8217;s food supply was provided by the king&#8217;s country.

When the meeting of the synagogue<n id="1" /> had broken up,<n id="2" /> many of the Jews and God-fearing proselytes<n id="3" /> followed Paul and Barnabas, who were speaking with them and were persuading<n id="4" /> them<n id="5" /> to continue<n id="6" /> in the grace of God.p>

So they were sent on their way by the church, and as they passed through both Phoenicia<n id="1" /> and Samaria, they were relating at length<n id="2" /> the conversion of the Gentiles and bringing great joy<n id="3" /> to all the brothers.

<p class="otpoetry"><b><i>so that the rest of humanityi>b><n id="1" /> <b><i>may seek the Lord,i>b>p> <p class="otpoetry"><b><i>namely,i>b><n id="2" /> <b><i>all the Gentilesi>b><n id="3" /> <b><i>I have called to be my own,i>b>&#8217;<n id="4" /> <b><i>says the Lord,i>b><n id="5" /> <i>who makes these thingsi>

<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.

Paul wanted Timothy<n id="1" /> to accompany him, and he took<n id="2" /> him and circumcised<n id="3" /> him because of the Jews who were in those places,<n id="4" /> for they all knew that his father was Greek.<n id="5" />

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" />

These Jews<n id="1" /> were more open-minded<n id="2" /> than those in Thessalonica,<n id="3" /> for they eagerly<n id="4" /> received<n id="5" /> the message, examining<n id="6" /> the scriptures carefully every day<n id="7" /> to see if these things were so.

because he has set<n id="1" /> a day on which he is going to judge the world<n id="2" /> in righteousness, by a man whom he designated,<n id="3" /> having provided proof to everyone by raising<n id="4" /> him from the dead.&#8221;p>

But some itinerant<n id="1" /> Jewish exorcists tried to invoke the name<n id="2" /> of the Lord Jesus over those who were possessed by<n id="3" /> evil spirits, saying, &#8220;I sternly warn<n id="4" /> you by Jesus whom Paul preaches.&#8221;