Study Desk

God, who made the world and everything in it, is Lord of heaven and earth and does not live in temples made by human hands.

He did this so that they would look for him, and perhaps find him as they felt around for him. Yet God is actually not far from any one of us;

God has overlooked the times when people did not know him, but now he commands all of them everywhere to turn away from their evil ways.

So he left them and went to live in the house of a Gentile named Titius Justus, who worshiped God; his house was next to the synagogue.

So Paul stayed there for a year and a half, teaching the people the word of God.

"This man," they said, "is trying to persuade people to worship God in a way that is against the law!"

Instead, he told them as he left, "If it is the will of God, I will come back to you." And so he sailed from Ephesus.

He began to speak boldly in the synagogue. When Priscilla and Aquila heard him, they took him home with them and explained to him more correctly the Way of God.

Paul went into the synagogue and for three months spoke boldly with the people, holding discussions with them and trying to convince them about the Kingdom of God.

God was performing unusual miracles through Paul.

To Jews and Gentiles alike I gave solemn warning that they should turn from their sins to God and believe in our Lord Jesus.

But I reckon my own life to be worth nothing to me; I only want to complete my mission and finish the work that the Lord Jesus gave me to do, which is to declare the Good News about the grace of God.

"I have gone about among all of you, preaching the Kingdom of God. And now I know that none of you will ever see me again.

For I have not held back from announcing to you the whole purpose of God.

So keep watch over yourselves and over all the flock which the Holy Spirit has placed in your care. Be shepherds of the church of God, which he made his own through the blood of his Son.

"And now I commend you to the care of God and to the message of his grace, which is able to build you up and give you the blessings God has for all his people.

Paul greeted them and gave a complete report of everything that God had done among the Gentiles through his work.

After hearing him, they all praised God. Then they said, "Brother Paul, you can see how many thousands of Jews have become believers, and how devoted they all are to the Law.

"I am a Jew, born in Tarsus in Cilicia, but brought up here in Jerusalem as a student of Gamaliel. I received strict instruction in the Law of our ancestors and was just as dedicated to God as are all of you who are here today.

I asked, ‘What shall I do, Lord?' and the Lord said to me, ‘Get up and go into Damascus, and there you will be told everything that God has determined for you to do.'