Then the Lord told him, &#8220;Get up and go to the street called &#8216;Straight,&#8217;<n id="1" /> and at Judas&#8217; house look for a man from Tarsus named Saul. For he is praying,

But the Lord said to him, &#8220;Go, because this man is my chosen instrument<n id="1" /> to carry my name before Gentiles and kings and the people of Israel.<n id="2" />

But Barnabas took<n id="1" /> Saul,<n id="2" /> brought<n id="3" /> him to the apostles, and related to them how he had seen the Lord on the road, that<n id="4" /> the Lord had spoken to him, and how in Damascus he had spoken out boldly<n id="5" /> in the name of Jesus.

<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>

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.

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>

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;

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>

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;

and said, &#8220;You who are full of all deceit and all wrongdoing,<n id="1" /> you son of the devil, you enemy of all righteousness &#8211; will you not stop making crooked the straight paths of the Lord?<n id="2" />

Now<n id="1" /> look, the hand of the Lord is against<n id="2" /> you, and you will be blind, unable to see the sun for a time!&#8221; Immediately mistiness<n id="3" /> and darkness came over<n id="4" /> him, and he went around seeking people<n id="5" /> to lead him by the hand.

So they stayed there<n id="1" /> for a considerable time, speaking out courageously for the Lord, who testified<n id="2" /> to the message<n id="3" /> of his grace, granting miraculous signs<n id="4" /> and wonders to be performed through their hands.

<t /><p class="bodytext">After some days Paul said to Barnabas, &#8220;Let&#8217;s return<n id="1" /> and visit the brothers in every town where we proclaimed the word of the Lord<n id="2" /> to see how they are doing.&#8221;<n id="3" />

A<n id="1" /> woman named Lydia, a dealer in purple cloth<n id="2" /> from the city of Thyatira,<n id="3" /> a God-fearing woman, listened to us.<n id="4" /> The Lord opened her heart to respond<n id="5" /> to what Paul was saying.

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.

He had been instructed in<n id="1" /> the way of the Lord, and with great enthusiasm<n id="2" /> he spoke and taught accurately the facts<n id="3" /> about Jesus, although he knew<n id="4" /> only the baptism of John.

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;