Study Desk

who was with the proconsul Sergius Paulus, an intelligent man. This man summoned Barnabas and Saul and wished to hear the word of God.

So Paul stood up, and motioning with his hand, he said, "Israelite men, and those who fear God, listen!

The God of this people Israel chose our fathers and exalted the people during their stay in the land of Egypt, and with uplifted arm he led them out of it.

And then they asked for a king, and God gave them Saul son of Kish, a man from the tribe of Benjamin, for forty years.

From the descendants of this man, according to his promise, God brought to Israel a Savior, Jesus.

"Men and brothers, sons of the family of Abraham and those among you who fear God—to us the message of this salvation has been sent!

But God raised him from the dead,

this promise God has fulfilled to our children by raising Jesus, as it is also written in the second psalm, ‘You are my Son; today I have fathered you.'

For David, after serving the purpose of God in his own generation, fell asleep and was buried with his fathers, and experienced decay.

But he whom God raised up did not experience decay.

And after the synagogue had broken up, many of the Jews and the devout proselytes followed Paul and Barnabas, who were speaking to them and were persuading them to continue in the grace of God.

Both Paul and Barnabas spoke boldly and said, "It was necessary that the word of God be spoken first to you, since you reject it and do not consider yourselves worthy of eternal life! Behold, we are turning to the Gentiles!

and saying, "Men, why are you doing these things? We also are men with the same nature as you, proclaiming the good news that you should turn from these worthless things to the living God, who made the heaven and the earth and the sea and all the things that are in them—

strengthening the souls of the disciples, encouraging them to continue in the faith and saying, "Through many persecutions it is necessary for us to enter into the kingdom of God."

and from there they sailed away to Antioch where they had been commended to the grace of God for the work that they had completed.

And when they arrived and called the church together, they reported all that God had done with them, and that he had opened a door of faith for the Gentiles.

And when they arrived in Jerusalem, they were received by the church and the apostles and the elders, and reported all that God had done with them.

And after there was much debate, Peter stood up and said to them, "Men and brothers, you know that in the early days God chose among you through my mouth that the Gentiles should hear the message of the gospel and believe.

And God, who knows the heart, testified to them by giving them the Holy Spirit, just as he also did to us.

So now why are you putting God to the test by placing on the neck of the disciples a yoke that neither our fathers nor we have been able to bear?