Study Desk

God made a promise to our ancestors. And we are here to tell you the good news

God raised Jesus from death and will never let his body decay. It is just as God said, "I will make to you the same holy promise that I made to David."

And in another psalm it says, "God will never let the body of his Holy One decay."

When David was alive, he obeyed God. Then after he died, he was buried in the family grave, and his body decayed.

But God raised Jesus from death, and his body did not decay.

"Look, you people who make fun of God! Be amazed and disappear. I will do something today that you won't believe, even if someone tells you about it!"

After the service, many Jews and a lot of Gentiles who worshiped God went with them. Paul and Barnabas begged them all to remain faithful to God, who had been so kind to them.

The Lord has given us this command, "I have placed you here as a light for the Gentiles. You are to take the saving power of God to people everywhere on earth."

Why are you doing this? We are humans just like you. Please give up all this foolishness. Turn to the living God, who made the sky, the earth, the sea, and everything in them.

In times past, God let each nation go its own way.

But he showed that he was there by the good things he did. God sends rain from heaven and makes your crops grow. He gives food to you and makes your hearts glad.

After arriving in Antioch, they called the church together. They told the people what God had helped them do and how he had made it possible for the Gentiles to believe.

The men who were sent by the church went through Phoenicia and Samaria, telling how the Gentiles had turned to God. This news made the Lord's followers very happy.

When the men arrived in Jerusalem, they were welcomed by the church, including the apostles and the leaders. They told them everything God had helped them do.

They had talked it over for a long time, when Peter got up and said: My friends, you know that God decided long ago to let me be the one from your group to preach the good news to the Gentiles. God did this so that they would hear and obey him.

God treated them in the same way that he treated us. They put their faith in him, and he made their hearts pure.

Now why are you trying to make God angry by placing a heavy burden on these followers? This burden was too heavy for us or our ancestors.

Everyone kept quiet and listened as Barnabas and Paul told how God had given them the power to work a lot of miracles and wonders for the Gentiles.

Simon Peter has told how God first came to the Gentiles and made some of them his own people.

And so, my friends, I don't think we should place burdens on the Gentiles who are turning to God.